Who Are You?
by Nameless Dreamer
Summary: (BtVS/Pretender/Invisible Man) Jarod and Darien Fawkes track a Centre-hired killer to Sunnydale, C.A. As if life for the Scoobies and Agency wasn't interesting enough. COMPLETE!
1. Agendas

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters so please don't sue me.  **

**Email: vince92079@yahoo.com**

**Rating: PG-13.**

**Category: Buffy x-over, Action-adventure.**

**Setting: This takes place between Revelations and Lover's Walk in the Buffy Universe (S3).  In the Invisible Man it's post Money for Nothing Part 2 (S1).  In the Pretender series this takes place between Hope and Prey and Once in a Blue Moon (S3).**

**Author's Notes:  I always wanted to see more Pretender/Buffy x-overs so I guess I'm trying my luck.  For some really good x-overs check out Tenhawk's Journeyverse series on ff.net or the Wanderverse.  **

The first chapter's kind of light on Buffy since I need to set up the premise.  They play a much bigger role in ch. 2 and beyond.****

**Summary: (BtVS/Pretender/Invisible Man) Jarod tracks a killer to Sunnydale, C.A.  Life for the Scoobies is about to get interesting.  *WIP***

----

**Ch 1 - Agendas**

**San Diego, C.A.**

The Loading Dock was a bar on the east side of San Diego.  It was a popular hangout for most police officers after they finished their shifts.  

Jarod was there with several of them this particular night.  One of the cops raised his bottle of Coors, "Hey Jarod man, thanks to you that bastard Keating will never screw with another cop again!"

Most of the cops at the bar raised their drinks in toast.  Jarod just smiled and basked in the success of his latest pretend.  It was things like this that made everything Jarod work for seem worth it.  

He had come to San Diego as a cop in internal affairs named Jarod Turner.  Someone in the division had been using their access to blackmail other cops with potentially embarrassing or incriminating material.  Jarod had exposed him in his usual fashion and the dirty cop would soon be disappearing for the next ten to twenty years.

He was soon in the corner of the bar, talking with an attractive brunette in what was another of his learning experiences.  "So let me see if I've got this right: You lick the salt off of a girl's neck or some other exposed region, drink the tequila and then eat the lime?"

"Jarod you've never done a tequila body shot before?"  She asked. 

"Well Dana I…uh…don't drink very often."

Dana had been Jarod's partner in internal affairs for the time he was here.  Today was her birthday and it was the reason most of the cops were here tonight.

"Ya know Jarod there's rumors going around that you're leaving…"  
"Yeah.  I guess I'm getting transferred out.  I kinda figured I wouldn't be staying long."

"Well I'm gonna miss you.  So are most of the others here."

"Thanks.  It means a lot to me."

While this was going on, a man in the corner of the bar was watching Jarod like a hawk.

I've got you.  This is going to be easier than I thought. 

With an evil smile he walked out of the bar.

----

About an hour later Jarod and Dana walked back to their apartment complex.  It was called Mahogany Apartments.  The city ran the building and designed it to offer low-rent apartments to police officers.

Dana's apartment was right across from Jarod's.

"I'm surprised you left in such a rush."  Jarod told her when they arrived on their floor.

"Yeah well my cousin's supposed to be stopping by.  He managed to get some time off from work to come see me.  I told him I'd meet him here.  He doesn't seem to like cops."

"How come?"

"He's been to jail a few times but he seems to be doing okay now.  Last time I talked with him he said he's working for the Fish and Game Agency now."

"Well if you need anything by all means just come over."

"Thanks Jarod."  She kissed him on the cheek and left.

Jarod went to unlock his apartment door but it already slightly open.  He cautiously pushed it open.  There was a man in Jarod's apartment wearing all black including a ski mask to hide his identity.  He seemed to working on something in middle of Jarod's living room.

"Hey!"

The masked man in the apartment turned around in surprise, not expecting Jarod to be here.  He quickly pulled out a gun with a silencer on it and started firing at Jarod as he dove for cover.  Neither man could really see each other in the dark.  The gunman just kept firing until his clip was empty.  

As he reloaded, Jarod used the opportunity to rush the man, tackling him to the ground and knocking the gun across the room.  

Whoever this man was, it was obvious he was trying to kill Jarod.  

And Jarod knew this couldn't have been a random attack.

Sensing he lost his chance, the gunman grabbed whatever gear he could and made a mad dash out of the apartment with Jarod in pursuit.  He both raced down the stairwell and out into the street.

Jarod was right behind him as he chased the man down the stairwell and out into the streets of San Diego.

----

A quarter mile down the road, Darien Fawkes was heading toward the apartment building.  He was carrying a gift bag with several balloons that said 'Happy Birthday!' attached to it and a teddy bear sticking out of the bag.  

Darien really wasn't paying attention to what was going on around him.  He was just happy to finally for once get time off.  He hadn't seen his cousin in years.

As Darien made his way toward Dana's apartment, Jarod's attacker, running in the opposite direction, crashed into him and they both fell to the ground.

This gave Jarod a chance to catch up to his mysterious stalker.  The Pretender landed a hard kick to the man's chest as he rolled off Darien.  When Jarod grabbed him the man pulled out a knife hidden under his sweater and slashed Jarod across the forearm.

As Jarod held his arm in pain, his assailant tried to kill him one more time.  He slashed his knife at Jarod a couple of times but his opponent quickly moved out of the way.  

In truth, the man in black had run out of time.  Darien was up not looking pleased and Jarod was still fighting him.  Seeing as he was now surrounded, he took off into the night streets.

Jarod was tempted to go after him even with blood dripping off his arm.  But with the fight now over, the adrenaline started wearing off and Jarod finally felt how painful the cut really was.  

As he staggered backwards, Darien helped steady him. "Who the hell was that?"

Jarod shook his head.  "You got me.  All I know is that bastard was in my apartment building."

"Apartment building?  You live in Mahogany?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm headed that way.  My cousin lives there."

Jarod then noticed a black bag a few feet away from them.  "Looks like our friend forgot something."  He picked up the backpack. "I better check out my apartment.  He might've left something in there too."

As if on cue the entire third floor of Mahogany Apartments, Jarod's floor, was engulfed in a massive explosion.

----

**Sunnydale, C.A.**

Buffy Summers was on her usual nightly patrol.  Angel and Giles were also with her as she checked out the usual hotspots for vampires or other underworld creatures.  

They were in one of the many cemeteries now. At this point though nothing had turned up and she was started to get pretty bored. 

"Well this is no fun.  Did all the vampires take the night off and not tell me?"

Her watcher made his over to her. "Buffy you can't expect to always find something every time you go out.  Perhaps we just weren't lucky tonight."

"Uh guys!"  Angel yelled and pointed behind them.  Giles and Buffy turned around and saw a demon about fifty feet away heading toward the three.

"Oh goody!  'Bout time something turned up."  Buffy looked pretty happy.  

The demon was about Angel's height.  It had green scales, solid black eyes and on it's neck seemed to be some sort of sac.  Other than that it looked fairly humanoid in appearance.

It quickly rushed at Buffy.  She sidestepped it and punched it in the face.  The demon didn't even look fazed from the blow and slammed Buffy against the wall of a crypt.  Angel joined the battle at this point and pushed the demon to the ground as Giles went over to help Buffy.

The demon got up and just stood there about ten feet from Angel.  The vampire just waited for it's next move.  The next move was something Angel didn't expect.  The sac on the demon's neck started moving and it spit some sort of green substance at Buffy.

Giles was with Buffy and instinctively shielded her from the shot.  The venom went all over the Watcher, covering him in a thin film of green ooze.  The demon just smiled and then, much to the surprise of his opponents, he took off.  
"Giles!"  Angel didn't bother going after it and ran over to Buffy and Giles.

"Giles are you alright?"  Buffy asked him after getting out from underneath him.

"I uh…I think so."  Giles was expecting something to happen as he wiped the ooze off his glasses but he seemed fine.

"Demons don't usually run away like that.  Any idea what that thing was?"  Was Buffy's second question.

"It looked familiar but I don't remember exactly.  I think…I might something about it at the library."  Giles got up and three of them heading back to Sunnydale High School.

----

**Sunnydale High School Library**

"It's apparently a Kiash Demon.  They're fairly strong.  Their main weapon appears to be…oh dear."

"Oh dear as in this isn't good or Oh dear the world's going to end?"  Buffy wondered.

"The uh…sacs on the Kiash Demon's neck contain a powerful substance that causes the intended victim to become sick with constant vomiting.  It's designed to weaken the Kiash's prey allowing it to kill rather easily."

"Oh God Giles I am *so* sorry!  I didn't mean for that to happen!"

"It's quite alright Buffy.  I think I should worry about if that thing tries something like that to one of us again."

Buffy shook her head.  "We won't let that happen.  I mean…Angel and I can stay with you in case that thing comes back."

Giles looked visibly relived, "Thank you Buffy.  This…uh affliction should hopefully only last a few days at most.  I-I think should go home and prepare for the worst."  

----

**San Diego, C.A.**

Police and the other emergency services surrounded Mahogany Apartments about an hour after the explosion took place.  Glass and debris covered everything for over a block and the cops who made it out of the building intact were getting medical help.  

After getting his arm bandaged, Jarod was racing all over the crime scene trying to help people. 

Darien was doing his best to try to get answers.  "Hey!  Hey wait up!"  

Darien finally got Jarod's attention after a dozen or so tries.

"Uh Darien, right?  What is it?"

"My cousin lives here.  Her name's Dana Tomkins. What happened to her?"

Jarod didn't answer at first.  With closed eyes and a lot of emotion in voice he weakly got out, "She…she was on my floor in the complex.  I'm sorry Darien."

Darien had held out some shred of hope that his cousin was still alive.  That she was somewhere in the sea of injured cops getting help.  It took a few minutes for it to sink in.  Darien looked like he was about to have a breakdown.

He made his way to one of the benches close to the building paying little attention to the world around him.  He had tears streaking down his face as tried to come to terms with what Jarod had just told him.  

In his mind, Darien Fawkes figured the Universe was playing a sick joke on him.  He had been a criminal for most of his life.  A thief who had a unique gift for getting caught.  His brother Kevin, a scientist, had given him a second chance when he offered an opportunity to take part in a secret government experiment.  In order to receive a get out of jail free card, Darien was implanted with a gland in his brain that secreted 'Quicksilver'.  It was a compound that let him or something he touched become invisible when covered in it.

Kevin had gone out on a limb for Darien and it had gotten him killed in the process.  He was a good person.  

And so was Dana.  She never got involved in any trouble and was always close to Darien and his brother growing up.  And now she was dead.  

She didn't deserve this.  I wasn't the scientist or the cop.  I was a criminal.  Why are they dead and I'm not?   Kevin's killer, a man named Arnaud, was free and even after several encounters Darien never made him face justice.  

It won't happen this time.  I'll find who did this.  And if was Arnaud I'll blow his head off.   Darien's mind was made up, it would not happen this time.  He would track down whoever did this and make him pay.  

He quietly made his way over to another bench.  Jarod had left the attacker's bag there.  Darien put his hand on the bag and it turned invisible.  He quickly got out of sight and rummaged through the items inside.

Let's see…Gun, Tools, and a Book.  Not much here.   Darien looked at the book cover and rifled through a few of the pages.  "What the hell is this?  You have got to be kidding me…"

He put the bag back where he found it after reading through the book and the quicksilver fell off of it a second later.

Afterwards, Jarod grabbed the black bag and left the crime scene.  Walking away from the building, he came across Darien's gift lying on the ground.  

Jarod slowly pulled the teddy bear out of the gift bag and looked at it for a while.

"You had people who cared for you.  They loved you and now…now you've been taken away from them."  Jarod had tears coming down his face.  "Dana, I'll find who did this.  I swear."

Jarod walked away with a determined look on his face.  He had work to do.

And about half a block behind Jarod, Darien followed him with the same expression.

----

**Sunnydale, C.A.**

"And I think you'll find that…Oh Dear God!"  Giles dove for the trashcan in the library and threw up what little of his breakfast he was still holding down.

All of the Scoobies felt sorry for the librarian.  They were all in the library the next day during lunch trying to help Giles as much as possible.

Of course after watching the librarian heaving his guts, the Scoobies had no appetite at all.

"Giles I don't know about England but here usually when you're not feeling good they let you call in sick."  Oz said.

Giles was still on his knees over the trashcan.  "Nonsense.  This is just a…a twenty-four hour affliction.  I'm perfectly capable of being here and…"  

He didn't finish as his gag reflex kicked in again and he buried his head in the trashcan.  Giles was being…well Giles.  He helps the Slayer stop the forces of evil and avert several apocalypses so to him no affliction was going to stop him from carrying out his duties.

Of course to the Scoobies opinions ranged from Willow's 'Poor guy.' To Xander's 'Giles is insane.'

A few minutes later, Principal Snyder walked into the library.  He winced at first after catching wind of the smell coming from Giles' desk.  

"Mr. Giles, I've been getting several complaints from students and faculty about a smell coming from the library."

"I've uh…just had a touch of something.  I'm fine really."

"Well it doesn't look that way.  Go home Mr. Giles.  It's obvious you're not capable of performing your tasks.  And don't come in tomorrow or the day after either."

Giles wasn't about to give up without a fight.  "It's really nothing."

"I'm not asking you. I'm ordering you as your boss."  Snyder then saw what was in the trash.  "And Miss Summers please take care of that mess."

Suddenly Buffy looked as queasy as Giles.

----

**Location – Unknown**

"This is just a minor setback."

"Minor setback?!?"  Was all a very angry Lyle could get out over the phone.  "Do you know how closely my superiors are watching this?  You can't afford to screw up again!  I hired you to kill Jarod now either you do that or I'll have every bounty hunter in the country looking for you!  Do I make myself clear."

"Of course."  The man who attacked Jarod the night before threw his phone against the wall.  He had to give Jarod credit.  The bastard was smart and he got lucky.

Lyle had called bitching and moaning afterwards about how he messed up.  Lyle wanted Jarod dead plain and simple.  

He assured Lyle it would happen.  

Jarod's attacker thought back to the fight and what went wrong from the bombing.  He wanted to kick himself for leaving his bag behind but now he figured it was a blessing in disguise.  Jarod would look through what was in there and put two and two together.  

It'll lead Jarod right to me.  Next time he won't be so lucky.   

----

**Blue Cove, Delaware**

Sydney was walking to his office after getting his morning coffee.  When he got there, he found a Fed Ex Overnight Envelope on his desk.  With a confused look he tore it open and a small knife fell out.

Just then his cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hello Sydney.  I take it you got my package by now."

"Yes I just opened it.  But a knife?  Why send thi…"

Jarod interrupted him, "It's a Stiletto.  A small blade used for fighting.  You heard about what happened two days ago?"

"Oh…uh yes it's all over the news.  The bombing at the apartment you lived in."

"Well I figured my good friends at the Centre may have had something to do with that.  Sure enough I hack into Lyle's email and come across a message sent to a man he called 'Stiletto'.  It was instructions on where to find me."

"Oh my God…Jarod I had no idea Lyle did this!  I don't think anyone here did!"

"He killed five Police Officers Sydney!  Dozens more are in the Hospital!"  Jarod was letting his emotions get the best of him and was yelling at this point.  "I'll deal with Lyle in due time.  I already know where 'Stiletto' is.  Look at the return address on the envelope." 

Sydney visibly paled when he saw the address, "Jarod!  Jarod listen to me!  I know you're upset and I know you want to find who did this but I know this place…hello?"

Jarod had hung up on him.  Sydney hadn't heard Jarod so angry in quite some time.  Whoever had tried to kill Jarod had killed several innocent people as well.  He knew Jarod would not let this go.

As for Lyle, Sydney didn't know whether he was a slow learner or just stupid.  The last time Lyle made this fiasco between the Center and Jarod personal he lost his right thumb.  

People in the Center had agendas within agendas here.  And Sydney's agenda and paramount goal had been to ensure Jarod's survival above all else.  Now Lyle threatened that.  

Worse still, Jarod was in a place that more dangerous than the Center ever could be.  And Jarod had no idea.

If this man kills Jarod so help me Lyle I'll make you pay! 

He had to talk with Mr. Parker.  Maybe he could rein-in Lyle before this got even more explosive than it already was.  But before he left, he took a box cutter from his desk and cut out the return address from the envelope Jarod had sent, not wanting anyone to know of his location.

----

**Sunnydale, CA**

"Giles missing a day of work that's like one of the signs of the Apocalypse, right?"  Xander asked as he walked with Buffy, Willow, Oz and Cordelia down a hallway in Sunnydale High School.

"How is he?"  Willow asked.

Buffy looked a little upset, "He's been throwing up non-stop for the last two days.  I feel so bad for Giles that should be me doing the sick routine not him.  No sign of the demon that did that to him either."

"And yet he still tried coming into work.  Never thought I'd agree with Snyder when he sent him home yesterday."  Xander tried to cheer everyone up.  "Hey Buff I'm sure he'll be alright.  You know we have the whole library to ourselves now!  I'm thinking party!"  

"Yeah that's right!  We can be all 'Cool Party People' now!"  Willow exclaimed.

Just before they walked through the doors to the library, several girls exited giggling and talking amongst themselves.

"Right.  Okay since when have people starting using the library here?"  Xander wondered.

They went through the door and sitting at Giles' desk was Jarod wearing a tweed suit just like Giles.

"Hel-lo."  Cordelia quietly said in complete attraction to the Pretender.

Jarod got up and held out his hand to Buffy.  "Oh hello there."

Buffy was confused to say the least.  "Um…hi.  Who are you?"

"My name is Jarod Anderson.  I'll be Mr. Giles' replacement while he's out sick."

----

**Blue Cove, Delaware**

"Miss Parker!"  Broots flew into Miss Parker's office with a paper in his hand.

"Broots ever think of drinking decaf?"  

The hacker frantically held up the paper to her, "I-I found this on Sydney's desk.  It's for you!"

_Parker,_

_I've taken some time off to take care of a personal matter.  I've already cleared it with your father.  I should be back in a few days._

Sydney 

----

TBC


	2. Questions and Answers

**Ch. 2 – Questions and Answers**

"Giles' replacement?"  A shocked Buffy asked.

"Yes that's right.  Apparently he came down with a stomach virus so I'm running the library for a few days."  Jarod held up a teapot with a goofy smile. "Would you like some tea?"

"Um no.  That's okay."

Just then Snyder walked into the library.  "Mr. Anderson is Miss Summers and her friends bothering you?"

"Oh…uh no.  No.  Everything's fine."

Buffy gave a nervous smile, "We were just leaving."

The Scoobies beat a hasty retreat after that.  Snyder watched them walk out and afterwards told Jarod, "That girl and her friends are nothing but trouble Jarod.  Trust me on this one.  Now understand that I run a tight ship here.  If those troublemakers bother you in any way just tell me."

"Oh I'm sure I can take care of things here."  Jarod replied.  Satisfied with the Pretender's response, Snyder left leaving him alone in the library.

Jarod finally had some time to himself.  He walked back to Giles' desk and pulled out the black bag he took from the man he who tried to kill him in San Diego.   Inside was an old book with the words 'SUNNYDALE H.S. LIBRARY' stamped on the inside back cover.  

"Demonic Rituals and Ceremonies."  Jarod read off the title of the book aloud.  He had read it cover to cover three times since the bombing.  It described things Jarod thought were impossible.    

At first he thought this book was some type of joke.  And yet Jarod's attacker had it on him with several other important things we would've needed that night.

He created his newest identity to investigate any connections to Dana's killer.  Nonetheless, he was shocked when he found numerous bookshelves containing tomes just like the one he brought with him.

Add to that the fact that there was a weapons locker in the library of a public high school meant that Jarod was left with more questions than when he started.  What was even stranger was that it seemed like nobody in the school acted like that strange.

This place feels more like a medieval chamber than a high school library. 

But the book was the only lead to the whereabouts of his attacker.  Since he was still thinking in rational terms, the Pretender's only guess was that his attacker or someone related to him was involved in some type of satanic cult in this city.  

It wasn't much but he had been grasping at straws before.  

Jarod also really wanted to talk with Mr. Giles.  Most of the books seemed to be part of a personal collection.  He hoped the librarian could tell him more about this.

Or that maybe Giles was the man he was after.

One thing was certain, Jarod knew very little about the supernatural.  Seeing no other option at the moment, he pulled one of Giles' books from a shelf and started reading.

----

**The Agency**

"Where the hell is he?!?  He wouldn't just up and leave.  Somthin ain't right!  Claire you sure you haven't heard from him?"  Bobby Hobbes, Darien Fawkes partner at the Agency, had been going crazy for the last two days.  Darien had once again disappeared after going to L.A.

In the room with him was the Doctor at the Agency.  A woman named Claire or 'The Keeper' as her codename went.  "Bobby none of us have heard from Darien.  You need to calm down.  I think your phone's ringing."

Hobbes flipped his phone open and barked, "What?"

"Nice to hear you too Hobbes."  It was Darien on the other end.

"Fawkes where the hell are you?!?  Do you have any idea how much shit you're in?  The Official's havin a coronary 'cause of you!"

Darien chuckled, "I'd pay good money to see that."

"This isn't some joke!  You vanished for two days without telling us!"

----

"Yeah…well Hobbes you heard about what happened in San Diego?"  
"The bombing?"

"Right.  Dana's dead.  And the bastard who killed her is still out there."

Hobbes didn't like where this was going.  "Fawkes please don't tell me you're going vigilante on me."

"Okay how's this sound:  I saw one of the cops from the accident, guy named Jarod Turner, take evidence without reporting what he found.  And now I find him with that evidence undercover as a librarian named Jarod Anderson in another town.  Guess I'm not the only vigilante here.  And trust me this guy's hiding something.  I've been following him from San Diego.  Bobby can you honestly tell me something's not wrong here?"

"Fawkes this ain't our problem.  Don't do this!"

Now Darien was getting annoyed, "Oh really?  And if someone killed one of your family members with a bomb what would you do to him?"

I'd shoot him in the kneecaps and watch him squirm for a few hours.   "I'd let the cops handle this Fawkes.  You can't stay there!  Sooner or later you're gonna need a shot of counteragent."  

Darien looked at the dragon tattoo on his forearm.  The red on the tattoo was about a third of the way up.  The more quicksilver he used the higher the red went.  If it completely covered the tattoo, Darien would enter a psychotic state known as Quicksilver Madness that could only be cured by an injection of counteragent.  However, the only counteragent was back at The Agency.  

"Yeah well let me worry about that.  I just called to tell you guys that I'll be back as soon as I take of this.  Take it easy Hobbes."

----

As soon as Hobbes hung up Claire asked him, "Did Darien say where he is?"

Hobbes shook his head, "Nah.  Claire we got a problem."

----

"We have a problem."  Buffy was pacing back and forth in the hallway.

Willow was trying to calm her down.  "It's not that bad."

"Not bad?  I left a lot of things I need in the weapons locker and now we can get in there.  And who is this guy Jarod anyway?"

"He seems nice enough.  Well from the two minutes we actually saw him."  Cordelia commented.

"I dunno…maybe…"

"Buffy not everybody from outside of Sunnydale has a hidden agenda."

"I don't know Cordy I gotta agree with the Buffster on this one.  I mean think about it.  All the people that came from outta town: Ampata, Ted, Ms. French." Xander shuddered at that last name.  "Track records not exactly in this guy's favor."

"Well I'm patrolling tonight while Angel watches Giles.  I could really use a few things in the library."

"Easier said than done Buff."  

----

**Blue Cove, Delaware**

"Daddy don't shut me out like this!  Someone tried to kill Jarod and you just say don't worry about it?"

"Enough!  Angel I've had enough your whining!  Sydney will back in a few days.  Don't push at things you don't understand.  This will all be taken care of soon."

Miss Parker didn't believe her father for a second.  If she had one redeeming quality, or fault depending on who you talked to, it was the fact that she could tell when people were lying to her and not letting it go.

----

"Miss Parker any luck?"  Broots asked as Miss Parker stormed back into her office.

The woman was smoking a cigarette at this point to calm her nerves.  "No.  My father just stonewalled me when I confronted him about Sydney.  So I guess we try Angelo."

Angelo was one of the Centre's more infamous projects.  As a boy Mr. Raines experimented him on.  It gave Angelo with the ability to empath the emotions of others after touching their possessions or watching them.  However the ability left the man's mind severely damaged, leaving him unable to do most other normal activities.  

Angelo was in the corner of the room.  Broots brought him over to a table.  "I've got the uh…knife Jarod sent Sydney and Sydney's note to you.  Maybe he can figure out where Sydney or Jarod are."

Angelo sat at the table and cautiously picked up the stiletto.   Miss Parker walked over to him and asked, "Angelo?  Angelo where is Jarod?"

Angelo suddenly became very upset.  "Jarod…Jarod angry!  So Angry!"

He then picked up Sydney's note and held it to his head. After a few seconds he mumbled, "Jarod…going into darkness…Jarod's In Darkness!  In Darkness!  JAROD DOESN'T KNOW!"  Angelo yelled out that last part and was almost crying.  

He wasn't finished either.  "Sydney…Sydney follow Jarod!  Sydney follow him…into darkness.  Looking for light.  Sydney looking for light in darkness!"

Miss Parker looked very frustrated and annoyed.  "You have got to be kidding me.  Broots this sounds like a bedtime story you'd tell Debbie.  He makes no sense!"

Broots didn't know what Angelo meant either.  "I know but whatever's going with Sydney and Jarod is really freaking Angelo out."

"Well we're not getting anywhere.  We still don't know where they went or who tried to kill Jarod."

"Lyle send Stiletto…Stiletto kill Jarod…" It was the last thing a very scared Angelo said before he tore up Sydney's note and ran to the dark corner of the room.  

----

Broots was at Miss Parker's computer for the last few hours.  He trying to find something about the 'Stiletto' Angelo mentioned.  

"Found anything yet Broots?"  Miss Parker had been getting very impatient.  Waiting wasn't something she was used to.

And with Angelo in the corner, rocking back and forth with arms around his legs muttering incoherently, her patience was running low.

"Well…maybe…look at this."  He pointed at the screen.  "This was in the message archive from a few years back.  According to this and a couple of other memos, Stiletto is the codename of a hit man.  But here's the weird thing, there's no mention of Lyle in here."

What?  Then who brought this guy in?

"It says here that Stiletto had been doing jobs for three years for Mr. Raines."

Miss Parker just shook her head.  "I should've known.  This is another one of Raines' monsters on the loose."

"Not exactly."

Broots almost fell off his chair in shock.  Mr. Raines was standing in the doorway of Miss. Parker's office.

"Sending one of your goons to kill Jarod?  Subtlety never was your strong point Raines."  Miss Parker said.

Raines made his over to her and Broots.  The wheel on his oxygen tank making squeaking noises the entire time.  "I had nothing to do with this Miss Parker."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"I severed all my ties with Stiletto years ago."  Raines' voice was wheezing.  Miss Parker arched an eyebrow as the good doctor explained who this mystery man was.  "He's a contract assassin.  I don't know what his real name is.  He only goes by his codename.  I used him at times when a Sweeper was ineffective.  Somehow he's gets the job done.  No questions asked."

"Sounds like you found a real gem their Raines.  Why let him go?"

"He's *very* arrogant.  He likes to show off and take unnecessary risks.  The last time I employed him he nearly compromised one of my projects."

"Then why is Lyle suddenly using him?"  Miss Parker asked.

"Your father and I have known for sometime that there's someone in the Triumvirate who believes Jarod is more trouble than he's worth.  He's cost the Centre millions.  Lyle found out about my past dealings with Stiletto and hired him to kill Jarod.  He's trying to impress that faction of the Triumvirate."

"My father would've never let Lyle do that!"

"Miss Parker they're watching this closely.  Your father is also being watched by them and ordered not to interfere.  There isn't much he can do.  When Sydney approached us about this he claimed to know a way to help Jarod.  That's why he left.  He didn't tell us where though."

All Miss Parker could do was laugh.  "So you, Sydney and my father are all in on this?  And you're helping monkey boy now?  Cute story."

"Jarod's been gone for over two years, a little while longer won't make much of a difference.  If Lyle succeeds, the Triumvirate will probably give him de-facto control over the Centre.  I have no doubt he'd get rid of all of us at the first possible opportunity."

Broots had just watched this discussion without interrupting but now he had a question.  "So if Sydney didn't tell you where Jarod is how do we find him?"

Angelo suddenly looked at the others and held up a small piece of cardboard.  "Miss Parker?"

Miss Parker took it from Angelo and noticed there was an address on it.  She had an idea where it might be from.

She walked to Sydney's office with the others following her.  When she got there, she dumped the contents of Sydney's trash onto the ground.  Picking up the Fed Ex envelope Jarod sent, she put the cardboard into the corner that Sydney had cut out and saw it was a perfect fit.

"Sunnydale California.  Broots have them get the jet ready."

Raines objected though, "Miss Parker!  Let Sydney deal with this."

"Raines, Sydney is involved in this.  Which means Jarod's involved.  Which means I'm involved.  You have a problem…" She smiled.  "…go talk to my father."

----

**Sunnydale H.S.**

School had ended over two hours ago but Jarod was still in the library with a large stack of books on Giles' desk.  

He had lost count of how many of them he had read through.  At first Jarod had read through the old books with a feeling of disbelief.

Though he had to admit to himself that all of these books were incredibly deep.  The authors had left very little to the imagination.  Knowledge about the supernatural was described in-depth.

This is impossible.  Everything that's written here *does not* exist. 

Jarod only half-believed that.  In truth, he had come here to find answers.  Now Jarod didn't know what to believe.

He had tried calling Sidney but his cell phone wasn't on.  For the first time in Jarod's life since his escape two years ago, he wasn't sure what to do next.

And if that wasn't enough, Stiletto was probably planning his next move.

----

"Is he still in there?"

"Yep.  He's been doing nothing but reading Giles' books for hours.  You really think this'll work?"

"Not really..."

----

The door to the library flew open snapping Jarod out of his mental debate.  Willow cautiously made her way into the library and tried to get the Pretender's attention.

"Um…Mr. Anderson?"  
Jarod ran over to the redhead who just came in.  "Please, call me Jarod.  Wait a sec…weren't you in here this morning?"

"Yeah.  Yeah that's right.  My name's Willow.  Willow Rosenberg."

"Well nice to meet you Willow.  Now what can I do for you?"

"I was…uh…looking up something on the computer for Giles.  I-I could really use some help with it."

"No problem."  Jarod sat down at the computer terminal and Willow brought up several different websites.  She also kept firing off questions, keeping Jarod occupied and looking at the screen.

"So to save this I just right click here?"

"Yeah that's right."

From behind Jarod, Willow's left arm was making a hurry up motion at the door.

The library door was quietly pushed open and Buffy and Xander, both shoeless, were tiptoeing toward the other side of the library.  

"Well this seems to be in order."  Jarod said.  "Now Willow, I have a question for you.  I've got these books I've been looking at."

Buffy and Xander were both at the desk at this point and ducked behind it.  Ironically all the books Jarod stacked on it made an obstacle big enough for both of them to hide behind.

Jarod started to get up and turn around but Willow yelled  "NO!" and pushed him back down into his chair.  

He stared straight ahead looking pretty confused why Willow would do that.  

"I-I'm sorry Jarod.  I…just wasn't finished yet."

The Pretender seemed to believe that as the redhead went back to distracting him.

Xander looked over the stack and seeing that Jarod wasn't paying attention to them, slowly opened the drawer in Giles' desk and pulled out a key ring.  He handed it to Buffy and she inserted the key into the weapons locker and unlocked it.

But when she tried to open the door, one of the hinges made a loud squeaking noise.

"Now I know I heard something!"  Jarod got up and walked over to the locker and found Willow's friends hiding there.  "What are you doing?"

He scared the two of them.  Xander lost his balance and knocked over most of the books on the desk.

The boy stood up a second later and broke into a guilty smile, "This is not my office."

He grabbed Buffy by the arm and started pulling her out of the library.

"Stop!  Okay what were the three of you doing in here?"

"Well…um…you see…" 

"There's this…um…"

"I'm looking for my sneakers.  Yeah.  Yeah that's right…"

"Enough!"  Jarod yelled out.  He massaged the bridge of his nose after listening to Buffy, Willow and Xander try to worm their way out of this.  His head was beginning to hurt. "Look I want the three of you out of here.  And if I see any of you in here again I won't be happy."

The three teens, surprised they gotten out of that with only a slap on the wrist, lunged for the door.

----

"Well may I be the first to say that was an unmitigated disaster?"

"You may Buffy."  Willow said.  "Hey Xander what're you reading?"

Xander stopped walking in the hallway and flashed a newspaper article at his friends.  "I found this with the books I knocked over."

He looked back down at the article and read aloud.  "A full investigation is being launched into the bombing of an apartment complex that resulted in the deaths of five police officers.  Hey wasn't this all over the news a few days ago?"  
"Yeah a bunch of cops were killed in San Diego a few days ago.  Why would Jarod have this?"  Willow wondered.

----

Jarod picked up a few of the books that Xander had knocked over.  He still wondered what was with those kids as looked back at the weapons locker then to the fallen books.

There's something about those three… 

The Pretender walked out of the library looking for the Scoobies but they weren't anywhere he could see.

He stopped a jock still in the school after it closed.  "Excuse me?"

"Well hello."  The jock looked Jarod up and down as if he were a piece of meat.  With a big smile he said, "I'm Larry.  What can I do for you?"  

"I'm looking for a student here.   Willow?  Uh…yeah that's right, Willow Rosenburg."

Larry looked disappointed.  "Oh her."

"Yeah.  What can you tell about her and her friends?  Anything weird about them?"

"Well Willow's the smart one.  If you looking for weird though that's her friend Buffy.  I mean she got expelled last year when a dead body showed up in the library."

Jarod looked surprised "Really?  Was that the only thing?"  

"Nah there's a lot more.  It's seems like she's involved with all the strange things that go on here."

That's…interesting. "Do you know where I can find them?"

"Um…they usually hang out at the Bronze."

----

Later that night, Jarod was at the Bronze watching (spying) on Willow and Xander.  They were at their usual table and the Pretender was at the other side.

Jarod was watching the Scoobies.  

And unbeknownst to Jarod, Darien was watching him from the second floor of the Bronze.

Darien Fawkes was acting on a gut instinct.  He knew something was wrong with Jarod he just couldn't decide whether it was good or bad.

Since he didn't have any counteragent, the Invisible Man had to ration the use of his Quicksilver gland and stuck to just staying out of the way.

It had been tough following Jarod from San Diego without being spotted.  Luckily Darien's training as a thief came in handy and he stayed rather incognito.  

Both Jarod and Darien saw Oz go over to Xander's table and the three Scoobies quickly rushed out of the club.

Jarod noticed and followed them out of the side exit.

Guy's got a lot to learn about shadowing people.   Darien thought to himself as he walked out of the main entrance a minute later.

----

Jarod walked out of the Bronze to something he didn't expect.

Buffy, Willow, Xander and Oz were all there fighting three rather large men.

The thing was while the two men and the redhead were struggling against one of them, much to Jarod's surprise Buffy was holding her own against the other two.

Jarod had no idea that Buffy was the Slayer.  He only saw a bunch of kids getting mugged.

And being a protector of the weak and abused, he rushed to help them.

He grabbed one of the vampires attacking Buffy, pushed him against the wall and delivered a stunning right cross to the vampire.  

The vampire didn't fall over like Jarod expected.  He caught Jarod's forearm as he was throwing another punch and twisted around to his back.  It was the same arm that Stiletto sliced two days ago and Jarod grunted in pain.

Buffy hadn't been idle after Jarod waded into the fight.  The slayer took full advantage of Jarod's help and quickly staked her remaining opponent.  She then threw the stake at the vampire fighting Jarod and hit it dead center in the chest.

The vampire turned to dust right in front of Jarod.  It scared the hell out of him, being probably the last thing he expected.

Buffy then threw the other vampire her friends were dealing it to the ground and checked on the other Scoobies.

"You guys alright?"

"Yeah we're fine.  This time wasn't actually as bad as others."  Xander told her.

Jarod couldn't believe this.  "Wait a sec?  *This time*?  You mean this has happened before?  And who are these guys?"

"It's um…complicated."  Buffy said.

As they were talking, they didn't noticed the third vampire get back up.  He punched Buffy in the lower back and she collapsed into Jarod's arms.  After fighting off Oz and Xander, he pinned Willow to the ground and went for the kill.

Jarod, at this point not thinking about events, grabbed the stake on the ground Buffy had thrown a second ago.

He pulled the vampire off of Willow and at this point the training he learned during his pretends in the armed forces kicked in.  Jarod went into a combat stance and started an impressive fighting routine that did a number on his opponent.

The vampire wasn't finished yet.  He rushed at Jarod to try and knock him to the ground.  Jarod mimicked Buffy and held the wooden stake and the vampire impaled himself on it before he could stop. 

The vampire crumbled into dust in front of Jarod and the Pretender suddenly realized what he had done.

I killed a man…oh god no… Jarod looked like he was about to lose it.

Willow's friends were helping her up and making sure she was okay.  

"I'm fine!  Really.  Jarod are you okay?"

Jarod quickly regained his composure.  "Uh…yeah.  Yeah I'm fine."

Buffy then told Willow.  "We should get you home Will."  As the Scoobies made their way out of the alley, Buffy looked at Jarod and said, "Thank you."

With almost no feeling Jarod replied.  "Yeah no problem." Then he wandered back into the Bronze.

----

Darien had just witnessed the entire scene from the entrance to the alley.

You know Albert Einstein once said:  "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."  Now, I just had one reality after another shattered over the last year or so with the Agency but I was havin a hard time believing what I had just seen.  

"He turned to dust?  What the hell happened to that guy?"

Before Darien got an answer to his questions, someone hit him in the back of the head with a crowbar.

He fell to the ground unconscious.  Two men picked him up, threw him into the back seat of a nearby car and drove off.

----

**The Next Day**

"Mind telling me what was going on last night?"

Jarod wasted no time that morning finding Buffy at school and trying to get an explanation from her.  He spent the entire night wrestling with his conscious over what happened and now he wanted answers.

"Like I said it's…it's complicated Jarod."  Buffy told him.

"Well one thing's for sure you're not exactly a normal teenager, are you?"

"The way you fought last night, you're not exactly a normal librarian."

Touché.   "That still doesn't my question."

Buffy looked like she was about to argue more then just gave up.  You know what?  The hell with secret identity.  He saved Willow, I owe him this much.   "Can we go someplace private?"

They walked over to the library.  Buffy walked over to Giles desk and saw a note on it.  She held it up at Jarod, "You write this?"

Jarod was just as confused as her.  He took the paper and saw that the only words written on it were 'Goodbye Jarod'.

"Buffy get out of here."

"Jarod what's wrong?"

"Just go!"

A second later the door to the weapons cabinet flew open on its own and the weapons inside starting flinging themselves toward Jarod and Buffy.

----

TBC


	3. Deals and Gatherings

**Ch 3 – Deals and Gatherings**

Jarod and Buffy dove for cover as a sword shot out of the weapons cabinet and impaled itself on a chair.  It just missed Buffy as she jumped out of the way at the last second.

Jarod was behind Giles' desk while Buffy overturned the table in the library for cover.  

More weapons shot out into the room.  There was no real aim and every weapon just shot out in a certain direction.

As a result much of the library was being wrecked.

One of the axes flew out next and turned the table Buffy was behind into splinters.

Seeing as now she had nothing to hide behind, Buffy pulled out the sword embedded in the chair next to her and did her best to deflect the oncoming projectiles.

The weapons cabinet didn't have an unlimited supply thankfully.  The attack finally ended when Jarod used a chair to bat away a quarterstaff.

The library was a disaster area.  Several chairs and bookshelves were destroyed.

Buffy picked up an axe with a broken handle and wanted to cry.  "This was my *favorite* axe!"

"Does this happen often?"  A very confused Jarod asked.

The Slayer just sighed.  "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."  
"Humor me."

Before she could answer, Murphy's Law kicked in and Principal Snyder came barging in to investigate the commotion happening in here.

"My God the library!"  He turned to Buffy exploding with anger.  "You!  This is your doing Summers!"

Buffy instantly got defensive.  "Wait a sec!  I didn't do this?"  
"Oh no?"  Snyder grabbed the arm Buffy was holding the sword in and pulled it up.  "I seem to remember you having an affinity for swords.  Now I may not be able to expel you again but thankfully Mr. Giles isn't here to protect you.  You're suspended for a week!"

"But I…"

"No buts!  Out!  Now!"  Snyder barked.

"But…" Buffy couldn't believe this was happening, as the shock was evident on her face.

Jarod tried coming to her defense.  "Mr. Snyder please she didn't have anything to do…"

The weasel interrupted Jarod before he could finish.  "Mr. Anderson I apologize for her behavior.  Don't worry I'll handle this."

"Principal Snyder let me explain."

"There's no explaining Jarod.  You know you've been doing a wonderful job so far.  Keep this up, and I don't think I'll need to bring Mr. Giles back for the foreseeable future."

Jarod had a look of disgust on his face as Buffy was escorted out of the library.  He had seen people like Snyder before.  Arrogant bosses who tried to control every little aspect of whatever they could.

"Buffy I'm sorry."

Jarod never found out what Buffy was about to tell him.  He had no doubt this was another attempt by Stiletto to kill him.  And now someone completely innocent from the matter was paying the price.

After this was over, Jarod was very tempted to go to Blue Cove and deal with Lyle personally.  

But as for now the Pretender was beginning to wonder whether or not he could do this by himself.

He pulled out a DSA he brought with him.  An old recording of one of the simulations he did for the Centre as a child.

It was his simulation of the Kennedy assassination he did in 1970.  He watched himself as a boy, pretending to be the shooter on the rooftop of the book depository.  He could feel and experience everything the shooter felt.  It was that ability that made him so important to the organization.  He had made the Centre millions and been the cause of so many deaths.

On the DSA, Sydney is sitting on a chair out of the way watching what Jarod is doing.  The young Jarod aims a prop gun while simulating the encounter.  "I can't fire enough shots before the car goes under the overpass. I can't. I can't do this alone. He wasn't alone."

Jarod stopped the video and replayed the last part.  "I can't. I can't do this alone."

Sydney had once told him that even with his impressive skills and abilities he was only one man. 

This situation, this entire town was different than anything that the Pretender had experienced before.

He didn't get to finish thinking about this though because Xander came storming into the library shortly afterwards and got right in Jarod's face.  "You son a bitch you got Buffy suspended!"

Jarod agreed not putting up an argument.  "You're right."

"Don't try to deny it you…what did you say?"

"This was my fault.  If I wasn't here none of this would've happened."

"Well I've got a great idea.  Why don't you leave?  Cause there's a lot of other people who won't be happy when they find out about this."

Jarod shook his head.  "It's not that simple.  Someone very dangerous is in this town.  I need to find him and…and I think I need Buffy's help."

"Someone dangerous?!?  What else is new…" Xander had this ironic look as he took in Jarod's plea.  "Why would Buffy, or any of us for that matter, help you?"

"Just hear me out.  After seeing what happened last night I know you people seem to know more than you're letting on about this place."

"Just don't Jarod.  You wouldn't understand."

Jarod threw his arms up and angrily yelled at Xander.  "Oh please!  You've got weapons in a public high school that'd get you expelled anywhere else!  There are books in here that would cause an uproar if parents found out about them!  I know a hell of a lot more than you think but I need to know more because trust me something very bad could happen!  Who are you people?"

"Heh, guess you could say we're just a bunch of kids in hell."

"Great…now is there any way to meet with Buffy?"

Xander turned around and walked a few steps away.  His back faced Jarod as the young man went over Jarod's offer.  He turned back around and said, "Yeah.  Yeah I think I can get a hold of her."

----

**The Agency**

Bobby and Claire had been called into the Official's office for an emergency meeting.

As the head of the Agency, it was his job to keep everything, and everyone for that matter, in line and running smoothly. 

"Now I've had both of you come in here because I think Eberts has found something pertaining to Fawkes' whereabouts."  The Official told them.

On cue Eberts, the Agency's paperwork wizard, came rushing into the office.

"Well now that we're all here…" The Official glared at Eberts.  "…lets get started."

Eberts began going over the mountain of papers he brought in with him.  "Well after what happened last time when Darien went AWOL we decided to put a trace on his credit card.  According to the statement I pulled up he's been renting out a room at a Motel 6 in a place called Sunnydale, C.A."

The Official looked at Bobby and Claire.  "Perfect.  Hobbes here's what I want you to do…"

"Uh sir?"

"Shut up Eberts!"

"Uh…sir…I…there's something else."

"Fine what is it?"

"Well remember what Darien said when he called?  That man he was following named Jarod Turner?   I did some digging on a hunch and I came up with a profile on a Coast Guard Officer named Jarod Spitz from about two years ago.  Compare that to the one on Jarod Turner."  Eberts passed both papers around.

Claire looked at the pictures in both of them.  "What the?  It's the same guy?"

Eberts nodded and handed more profiles on Jarod.  "Well not only that.  He's here as a U.S. Marshal named Jarod Cody, a Naval Officer named Jarod Forrester and he's in the F.B.I. database with at least three different identities."

"Oh my god.  Who is he?"

"You ask me?"  Hobbes finally spoke up after staying silent till now.  "I'll bet he's probably some deep cover operative for the government.  C.I.A., N.S.A. take your pick."

The Official ran his hands threw his head.  Ever since Darien had joined the Agency his stress level had skyrocketed.  He took a deep breath and said.  "This changes everything.  Not only do we have to worry about Darien hitting Quicksilver Madness, if this guy Jarod discovers who Darien is he could compromise the entire Agency.  Hobbes!  I want you and Claire on the first flight to Sunnydale.  Get Darien back any way you can!"

"Gotcha."  Bobby told him.

"Bobby just a second."  As Hobbes got up to leave the Official stopped him.

"What's wrong?"

"I had Claire run a simulation of Darien's gland.  Depending on how much he's used it, we've got at most 36 hours before he goes psycho.  If you can't find him in time…"  The Official paused for a second trying to mentally accept this order he was about to issue.  "…I'll have to alert the authorities about Fawkes.  We won't have any choice by then."

"Don't worry I'll get him before that."  Hobbes assured his boss.

Hang in there partner. I'm comin. 

----

**Sunnydale, C.A.**

"My head…"

Darien had rejoined the world of the living and noticed he wasn't in the alley of the Bronze anymore.

He was sitting in a plush chair in what looked to be a very expensive office.

And as he held the back of his head in pain, Darien saw he wasn't alone.  There was a man sitting at the desk in front of him filling out paperwork.  He was wearing a suit and a very ugly red baseball cap.

Now I'll admit the last 24 hours had been weird.  A followed a strange guy into a strange town with strange things going on.   But just when I thought this situation couldn't get any stranger…

"Oh good you're awake!  I've meaning to talk to you Mr. uh…"  He grabbed Darien's wallet, which was on his desk, and looked inside.  "…Fawkes!  Yeah that's right Mr. Darien Fawkes of the…Fish and Game Agency."

"And you are?"

"Oh where are my manners?  My name is Richard Wilkins III and I'm the Mayor of Sunnydale."  The mayor got up and walked over to the front of his desk.  "Sorry about your head Mr. Fawkes.  How do you feel?  You have been out most of the day."  The Mayor was acting in his usual cheery self.

"Great." Darien mumbled.  "How'd I get here?  No forget that.  Why am I here?"

"Well you see Darien…you mind if I call you Darien?"

"Yes."

"Like I was saying: I make it a point to know everything that's going on in my town.  So imagine my surprise when not one but two mysterious men show up in Sunnydale.   First this man named Jarod, who I might add is associating with some rather shady teenagers at our local high school, and now you.  So I had my associates bring you here.  Now Darien I have to know:  Why are you in my town?"

The Invisible Man lied through his teeth.  "I'm just here on my vacation."

Mayor Wilkins laughed and pointed at him.  "See I knew putting that ad in the new AAA brochure would pay off."

He then produced a printout and showed it to Darien.  "Now don't get me wrong but I did a background check on you.  And from what it says here, before you became an upstanding government official, you were a hardened criminal!  A convicted thief with three strikes against him to boot!"

"You have a point?"  Darien was starting to get annoyed.  Without even taking into account the fact he was assaulted and brought here against his will this guy was starting to bring up things in his past that he felt were best left unmentioned.

"My aren't we the grouch?  You really are uptight aren't you?  Darien you should relax a little bit.  Get a hobby.  You know what I do when I want to relax?"

"Kidnap people?"  Darien deadpanned.

"Softball!"  The Mayor picked a large trophy and showed it off.  "Our team just won the championship in no small part to my game winning double in the bottom of the ninth."

Darien just rolled his eyes.  The Mayor saw this and got to the point.  "Now I can't allow someone with such a dangerous record to wander around my town.  However, I do have need of a person with your specific talents."

I had been going by that phrase 'Don't trust anybody' when I got here.  I wasn't about to start trusting this wacko. 

"I'm sorry Mayor Wilkins but I'm not in that line of work anymore."

Darien noticed the Mayor's attitude instantly took on a much darker tone.  "Well that's a shame Darien.  Here I was thinking you'd be a team player.  Maybe you need a little while to rethink your decision."  

He snapped his fingers and a vampire in a suit came in.  "Make sure Mr. Fawkes doesn't go anywhere while I'm gone."

As soon as the Mayor walked out of his office Darien got up.  "Alright that's it!  I'm outta here!"

The Mayor's goon stopped him and put his game face on.  "He said stay here!"

"Dude what's with your face?"

Darien never got an answer.  The vampire threw across the room.  The Invisible Man crashed onto the desk and fell behind it taking most of the Mayor's possessions on it with him.

"Ouch." It took him a minute to get up as he was in obvious pain.

"C'mon take your best shot!"  His undead opponent yelled.

Darien slowly got up and warily approached him.  He made an overhead swing and floored the vampire in one hit.  Darien shook his hand the quicksilver fell off the Mayor's broken, and now visible, softball trophy.

He dropped it and looked through a few papers on the floor he knocked over hoping to find some useful information about Jarod or this town.  One in particular caught his eye.

"Olvikan?  What the…great…a bureaucrat with a snake fetish." 

Without wasting any more time Darien found his wallet in the mess and got the hell out of City Hall.

The Mayor, accompanied by Mr. Trick, came back into the room a few minutes later.

"My office!  And I just had everything the way I wanted!"  Wilkins picked up his broken trophy with a look of sadness and found some of the research on the Ascension with it.

The Mayor had to believe Darien had gotten a glance of his master plan.  If he relayed that information to the wrong people…

"Trick."  He said with the same dark tone he had just showed earlier.  "Find Mr. Fawkes and convey to him my abundant displeasure about this."

The Mayor's accomplice just smiled.  "Of course."

----

"Ya know your pretty smart coming ta this here bar during the day.  There's a lot of bad things that come around at night."

"Don't patronize me."  Sydney told Willy.  "I've been told you know everything that goes on in this town.  Now do you know where I can find this man or not?"

"Well…ya gotta understand.  It's kinda difficult rememberin *everything* that goes on here."

Sidney pulled a wad of rolled up bills out of his pocket and put a folded up fifty on the bar counter.  "Think harder."

Willy licked his lips and casually made the bill disappear.  It wasn't hard since it was so small.  "Yeah I know about him.  That guy's makin a lot of noise lately.  I'll uh…tell ya where ya can find him."

----

That night, after making sure Snyder had left the High School, Buffy, Angel and Giles all snuck back into the school to meet with Jarod and the other Scoobies by coming up through the hidden entrance in the back of the library.

The rest of them had managed to clean up the library to some degree and Jarod had gotten the janitor to bring in a new table and chairs.  But the room was still a mess.

Buffy and most of the other Scoobies glared at Jarod.  Not trusting this stranger after what had happened this morning.

The three of them came up through the secret passage in the back of the library.  Giles was still looking a little green around the gills as Jarod introduced himself.

"Mr. Giles it's great to finally meet you.  I've heard a lot about you."

"Oh…uh thank you Jarod.  Please call me Giles."  The librarian looked at the devastation in his room.  "Yes that settles it.  Buffy I'm never leaving you alone in here again."

Buffy rapidly shook her head in denial.  "Hey it wasn't my fault!"

"Yes of course it's always something else isn't it?"  

"Darn tootin!"

"I give up."

"Hey Giles how ya feeling?" Oz asked the Watcher.

"If I see another piece of food I'm going to throw up."

As the Scoobies all sat down, an invisible Darien had snuck through the main entrance.  After crashing at his hotel room for a few hours he made a beeline for the library, remembering what the Mayor had mentioned about Jarod. 

He quietly walked up to the balcony to stay out of the way.  Darien wanted to know what was going on just as much as the others.

Willow asked Buffy when she sat down.  "How'd your Mom take it when you told her you got suspended?"

"Well aside from slaying I'm grounded for two weeks."

"Wow."

"You have no idea."

Giles spoke up at this point.  "Well now that we're all here, Jarod perhaps you can tell us what is going on?"

Jarod surveyed the room and told them.  "Someone is trying to kill me."

----

TBC

I kind of figured most people who read this might not know much about the Pretender or the Invisible Man.  If you want some background info on the shows check out these sites:

http://www.scifi.com/invisibleman

http://www.enteract.com/~perridox/pretender/


	4. The truth, the whole truth and nothing b...

**Ch. 4 – The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth**

----

Over the course of the next few minutes Jarod relayed his current situation to the people in the library.

About how he was hunted by a corporation called the Centre for costing them millions.

How a high-ranking member of the Centre named Lyle hired an assassin to kill him in San Diego.

And how that assassin, whom Jarod only knew from a call sign 'Stiletto', had set a bomb to destroy his apartment and instead killed five police officers.

Jarod was still having a hard time understanding, and trusting for that matter, everything in this town.  Sure from what he said in less than a day it looked like these kids could be trusted.  

He also wanted to know more about the unique situation in this town.  All he knew was just everything he had read in the library the day before.

But still he was a bit reserved so he only gave an abbreviated version of his current predicament leaving out any Pretender-related information.

An invisible Darien was on the higher level with the book stacks.  He leaned against the guardrail and was focusing on Jarod.

Ironically most of the Scoobies didn't look too surprised.  Giles had taken off his glasses and rubbed his eyes while asking the Pretender, "Well this is certainly a-a interesting story you've told us.  There's just one thing:  How did you know to come here?"

Jarod held up the large book he found in Stiletto's bag.  "I tried to run down the assassin after he attacked me in my apartment.  He got away but left his backpack behind.  Inside was this."  He dropped the massive book on the table.

The loud noise the book snapped Darien out of the zone he was in.  He was so surprised he lost his balance and fell forward.  

Normally the guardrail would've blocked his fall but with all the damage the library had taken that section was pretty weak.  The rail broke and he crashed to the floor ten feet below.

While Darien was invisible and thus couldn't be seen, the noise from the fall caused Jarod and the Scoobies to turn toward his location in surprise.  They had all been on edge after Jarod and Buffy were attacked earlier that morning.  

Angel instantly got over to where Darien was lying to investigate.  Darien, sprawled out on the floor, figured he might be able to make a break for the entrance but first he had to get by Angel.  

He quickly threw a right cross at the vampire catching him by surprise.  Angel had no idea it was coming and staggered back a few steps while his vampire face appeared.  The Invisible Man then tackled the vampire.   Angel fell to the floor but managed to grab his attacker's leg.

"Something's in here!" He yelled.  A second later Darien kicked him, causing Angel to cry out in pain and let go of him, and the Invisible Man made a mad dash for the door.

Willow being the most perceptive of the Scoobies came to a reasonable guess first.  "What the… it's Marcie!"

Oh God…. OhGodOhGodOhGodOhGodOhGodOhGod Cordelia instantly panicked and ran to the other side of the room.

"QUIET!"  Buffy yelled while trying to avoid Cordy.  Her eyes were closed as the whole room went silent.  The Slayer was trying to figure out where Darien was using the same technique she used against Marcie two years ago.  

I've been suspended for doing absou-freakin-lutly nothing, we've got a vigilante in Giles' job wanting protection and now an invisible psycho is back in town.  Oh yeah this just keeps getting better and better. 

Darien had also stopped dead in his tracks as soon as everyone else stopped making noise.  He was starting to get freaked out after seeing another vampire and wanted nothing more to get the hell out of there.  

"Danger!  Danger Will Robinson!"  Summed up Darien's thoughts fairly well.

The entrance to the library was less than twenty feet ahead of him.  Darien decided to take a chance and make a break for it.

As soon as he took off Buffy heard him.  She grabbed a chair from the table and flung it in that direction.  It caught Darien in the legs and he fell to the ground again.  This time Angel was instantly on him and he struggled to keep Darien in a bear hug.  The vampire wasn't too happy about being treated like a punching bag a minute earlier and Darien was struggling to breathe.

Cordelia was feeling a bit more embolden now that she felt out of danger.  She came over to the form Angel was trying to subdue and said, "Yeah that's right Marcie you screwed up!  And we're not going to let you out of our sight this time…uh…well…you know what I mean!"

Darien was wondering why all these kids weren't surprised about this.  Also he was wondering who this Marcie was.  The last time he checked he was the *only* person, aside from Arnaud, who could do this.  

"Um excuse me…" The quicksilver snow flaked off Darien.  Cordelia screamed and jumped back.  She wasn't expecting the person that Angel was grappling with to be a man.  "…But who the hell is Marcie?"

The rest of the teenagers weren't expecting this twist either.  Oz summed it up when he said.  "Call it a hunch but I'm guessing that's not Marcie."

Xander shrugged.  "Maybe it's Marcie's older brother?"

Jarod walked over after realizing he had in fact seen this guy before.  "Wait a minute.  I saw in you in San Diego that night!"  He grabbed the eavesdropper by the shirt and slammed him again the wall in anger.  "You've been following me!  And I'll bet you had something to do with this morning!  The weapons weren't flying on their own that was you!"

Now Darien had no clue about what happened earlier since he was too busy being the Mayor's "guest".  He angrily broke off Jarod's grip and stared him right in the face.  "Yeah I've been following you.  But this was the first time I've been in here!"

"And you expect us to believe that?"  A very angry Pretender asked.

"Hey screw you pal!  Whosever after you killed my cousin!  And you?  Why should I or any of these kids believe you?  Whoever you are buddy, cause lemme tell ya you're not Jarod Anderson and I'm willing to bet you're not even Jarod Turner, I'm guessing you've left out something important."

Darien's loud diatribe made its mark and several of the confused teenagers turned around and looked at Jarod.  It hadn't been the first time somebody had tried to fool them like this.

"Jarod Turner?"  Willow asked.

Jarod was beginning to get nervous.  "Hold on I can explain."

But wait there's more!   Buffy groaned.  "Really?  'Cause I'd like to know the truth, the actual truth, from you guys."

Jarod took a deep breath and closed his eyes.  He knew now he had to reveal the rest of his past or he might lose what trust he might've started to gain.  "When I was a boy I was taken from my family by the Centre.  I had a unique gift in that I could simulate any kind of situation.  Their term for people like me are 'Pretenders'.  I can become anyone I want, like a Doctor or a Lawyer, and pull it off flawlessly."

"Or a librarian."  Willow added.

"Exactly."

Giles chimed in.  "Uh excuse me Jarod but how exactly you go about from one identity to another and not get caught?"

"I usually just hack into computer systems and build myself an alias.  It's what I did here."

"You mean you use those infernal machines just like Willow does?" The librarian groaned.

"Uh…I guess so.   Anyways over two years ago I escaped from the Centre when I found out they were using my talents to hurt others.  Ever since they've been trying to get me back and conversely I've been trying to experience the outside world.  During the first attack, the one with the bomb, I had been in San Diego for almost a week as a police officer named Jarod Turner.  That's when I met our friend Darien here."

"So what's your real name?"  
"Willow I have no idea.  I know my first name is Jarod.  That's about it."  With the exception of Willow several of the other teenagers had a look of disbelief.  Jarod could tell they still didn't believe it.  

"Hold on.  Jarod how many people did you do this to?"  The Slayer then demanded.

Jarod got defensive.  "I didn't know about it."  

Buffy cocked an eyebrow at that statement.  Jarod saw it and his shoulders slumped down Come on!  What's it going to take with you people? 

The Pretender tried again.  "For decades the Centre made an ungodly amount of money using my simulations to hurt other people.  They claimed they were for rescue operations or for peaceful means.  When I found out the truth I left.  I've been spending the last two years trying to make up for all the pain I've caused."

"And who's this guy?"  Willow pointed at Darien.

"Let's find out."   The Pretender looked at him as well.  "So I just told my secret now it's your turn Darien.  You can start by telling us how you got here and how you did that disappearing act."

"Do I have a choice?"

"No."  Angel replied coldly.

"Right.  I was convicted thief on his third strike.  My brother Kevin gave me a choice: be a guinea pig in his experiment to put a synthetic gland in my head or go to jail for life.  When I activate the gland it lets me turn invisible."

"The places I could go into with that.  I've always wondered what the girl's shower looks like."  Xander mused.

Cordelia shot him a glare.  "Keep dreaming Xander."

"It ain't all perfect kid.  This thing kicks in whenever I get an adrenaline rush.  Among other things…"

Buffy got right in Darien's face right after he finished.  "Could we please get back to why you're here?  And believe me when I tell you that if you were the one from this morning who got me suspended I'm going to get Very Grouchy."

Darien winced.  His ego was hurting after a seventeen-year-old girl that for all intent and purposes he could've stopped with both arms tied behind his back caught him.

"I was there when the bomb went off.  Afterwards I noticed Jarod was acting really strange even for a cop. So I figured you might've been hiding something.  So I trailed you here.  When I saw you were going by a different name, I figured you would lead to whoever that was in San Diego.  As for today I wasn't even here.  I tracked all of you to the…what was the name of that club you were at last night the Silver?"

"Bronze."  Oz said.

"Yeah that's right.  So anyways I got jumped right after your little fight in the alley by some guys like him."  He waved at Angel in disgust.  "When I came to I was in the Mayor's Office.  Some guy named Wilkins."

"Good Lord you were in his office?  Did you see anything of value in there?"  Giles asked.

"Yeah he likes snakes."

"Well that's…interesting."  Giles was feeling the need to take charge of the situation with the chaos that had just taken place.  In less than two days the library had been wrecked and everything had gone to, well since they were technically in hell already something worse.

*This* is why I don't take time off. He thought to himself.

"Darien I-I think the rest of us need to talk about this in private.  Angel most of the weapons in the locker were destroyed this morning.  Why don't you take Darien back to your apartment and bring back your weapons cache."

"No way!"  Angel and Darien yelled in unison.  They both looked like they were ready to go another round not act like friends.  What Giles wanted was the probably the last thing they were willing to do.

The librarian took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes trying to fight off exhaustion and a rising feeling of anger toward these two.  With a little bit of anger in his voice he then told the two, "Darien I promise nothing will happen to you and you will be let back in here, right Angel?"

The vampire just snarled.  "Fine."

Darien groaned as well while looking at Angel.  "Great.  Lead the way buddy."

Angel turned around and looked at him.   "Alright let's get one thing straight.  I am *not* your buddy.  I'm not your pal, your compadre or any of that.  Got it?"

Darien just rolled his eyes.  "Sure.  He tried to think of a something to call an undead creature of the night 

"…Deadboy."

As Angel stormed out of the library he thought he heard Xander muffle a laugh.

----

**LAX Airport**

Miss Parker wasn't too pleased.  After getting through every roadblock Lyle had set up she had finally gotten use of one of the Centre's charter jets.

The bad news was that it experienced a mechanical failure in the air and the pilot had been forced to make an emergency landing in L.A. just before they were due to arrive in Sunnydale.  She had sent Broots to find out how long it would take the plane to get fixed.  But that was over an hour ago and she was going out of her mind waiting.

She had gotten sick and tired of chasing after Jarod and jumping through hoops for the last two years.

God Damn Jarod. 

Ironically someone was walking toward her thinking along similar lines.  Bobby Hobbes was wondering how in God's name he was supposed to find Darien since he had a two-day head start on him.  He might not even be in Sunnydale anymore.

God Damn Fawkes. 

Hobbes and Miss Parker didn't even notice the other and they crashed into each other while Claire, who was walking behind Hobbes, jumped out the way at the last second.

Hobbes lowered his sunglasses and took in the tall, attractive brunette in front of him.  "Hel-lo."

"In your dreams shorty."  She said with her usual demeaning sarcasm as she got back up.

"Shorty!?!  Hey look here you…"

Claire grabbed Hobbes by the jacket and started pulling toward one of the gates before he could finish.  "C'mon Bobby we have a flight to catch!"

After the two agency members walked away Broots came running over "Miss Parker!"

She got up and dusted herself off.  "Finally.  Is the plane ready yet?"

"Well no the mechanic says the part he needs won't get here until tomorrow.  But I just found out there's a route from L.A. to Sunnydale every week."

"When?"

"7:15 I think."

Miss Parker looked at her watch. It read 7:25.  "Dammit!  What gate is it?"

Broots pointed to the gate Bobby and Claire had entered a minute before.  They both rushed over just in time to have a flight attendant slam the gate door in their face.

"Oh this is just great!  When's the next flight?"

"I told you there's only one per week."

"Perfect."  Miss Parker pulled out a cigarette.  "So how far a drive is Sunnydale?"

----

After Darien and Angel left, Xander couldn't hold it in anymore and started laughing hysterically.  

The others tried to ignore him and focus what had just happened.

"So what do you think of this guy?"  Buffy asked the room.

"Who Jarod?"  Willow replied.  
"I was talking about Darien."

"He called Angel Deadboy what do you think?"  Xander got out in between laughs.

"Buffy I think there's something we've failed to recognize about this whole situation."  Her Watcher said.

"And that would be?"

Giles had held up the book Jarod brought with him.  "Buffy this book has been missing from the library for some time.  Whoever took this…well I think it's safe to say he knows and is not afraid of the fact that you are the Slayer.  Add to the fact this person was probably in here yesterday.  I believe we've inadvertently become involved in this problem with Jarod and Darien."

Great just another hellish part about being the Chosen One.  As if I don't have enough things in this town that want to annoy me now they're coming from the entire state. 

"And on that note: Giles what should we do about Darien?"

"Ironically Buffy I must agree Xander."  That shocked the entire room.  Unfazed the Watcher went on.  "If we shut Darien out of this he may just try to follow us as he has been the last two days.  And his well…abilities may be useful.  Jarod do you have anything to add to this?"

Jarod had made it a point to keep out of this conversation until someone asked for his input.  "He was there in San Diego.  I-I had gotten close to his cousin in the short time I was there.  I broke the news about her death to him at the crime scene.  He looked…devastated."

Giles took his glasses and rubbed his nose again.  "Jarod, I believe we have no choice but to help stop this person, Stiletto, from trying anything else.  But I must warn you…" Shades of the Ripper were starting to appear in Giles demeanor.  "…If you or Darien do anything to the people in this room I will make you pay.  Do you understand?"

"Completely." Jarod replied.

----

Angel and Darien hadn't said a word to each other after leaving the library.  Angel just kept walking down the street and Darien was doing his best to keep up.

This guy ain't too social… Darien thought to himself.

Angel kept up the silent act all the way up to his apartment. When he got there he saw the door was already open.

"Someone's in here."

"You sure?"  Darien asked.

"Yeah. I'm positive.  A lot of things in this town don't like me."

"Gee I wonder why?"

The two cautiously entered Angel's apartment.  As they crept toward the bedroom Darien quietly picked up the poker left at the fireplace and gripped it with both hands.   "Dark place you got here.  Angel you ever heard of color?"

"Whosever in here.  You have no idea what you just did."  Angel yelled trying to ignore his obnoxious companion.

From a dark corner they heard a man say.  "Well I'm not like most people.  They don't know you now do they?"

Darien looked ready to attack but Angel stopped him while getting a better look at his intruder.  "No way…it couldn't be…"

The man stepped forward.  "I'm sorry for the intrusion Angel but I need your help."

"I'll be damned, Sydney?"

----

TBC


	5. Plans in motion Part 1 Stirring the Pot

It took me awhile since this chapter is over twice the size of a usual one in my stories.  I figured I would've been done with it earlier until I realized how huge this was.  (7000+ words…it took a lot of coffee). 

This chapter is pretty heavy on the I-Man content so you've been warned.  Next chapter focuses more on Jarod and the Scoobies.

----

**Ch. 5 - Plans in Motion (1/3) – Stirring the Pot**

----

Angel could hardly believe that in fact Dr. Sydney Greene was standing there.

"Sydney?  You…I…wow you look…older."  

"You don't though.  You still look like you did I first met you.  It's been what 15 years?"

Angel nodded.  "Around that."

"I'm sorry I didn't call ahead but like I said I need your help.  My friend is here in town and his life is in danger."

 "Uh Sydney don't get me wrong it's great to see you again but this is a really bad time."

"Please!  His name is Jarod.  He arrived in town a few days ago…" Sydney wouldn't back down though.  

Darien interrupted.  "Jarod?  Tall guy?  Black hair?  Brown eyes?"

"You've found him?"  Sydney was shocked to hear that these two had already found the Pretender.  He pulled a photo of Jarod out of his pocket.  "Is this the man you're talking about?"

The Invisible Man just nodded.  "Yeah that's him."

"Angel I need to see him immediately!"

Angel had no problem with Sydney's request.  "That's fine.  We're on our way back to meet with him and a few of my friends.  I just need to grab my weapons chest."

Darien was already by the chest when Angel said that.  "Hey I'll get it."

He grunted as he tried to pick up the chest but it weighed several hundred pounds and it was obvious he couldn't do it.

Angel walked over and lifted it with no problem, giving Darien a sarcastic grin the entire time.

Angel and Sydney walked out as Darien tried to come up with an excuse.

"Yeah…well my back…it's kinda…ya know…" He gave up after he saw neither of them were listening.  "…ah screw it."

----

**Location Unknown**

"You know when I hired you it was because you came very recommended.  I'm beginning to wonder why."  Was all Lyle said over the phone.

"Lyle you getting upset over nothing."

"Nothing?  Look my sister is on her way to the town your in.  I'm pretty sure Sydney is already there."

"Ah yes…the infamous Miss Parker.  Quite an attractive sister you have their Lyle."

"Stiletto you better not do anything to her, understand?  Harm one hair on her head and our agreement is off!  Now you better come up with something soon because the Triumvirate won't wait forever to see results."

"Lyle, Lyle, Lyle.  Calm down.  I've already got something ready."

After Lyle heard Stiletto's plan over the next few minutes he couldn't help but laugh.  "Do you plan every little detail out?"

"It's how I've stayed alive."  
"I guess so.  You really are a sadistic bastard."

"That's nothing.  You should've seen me twenty years ago."

He ended the phone conversation after that.  

Stiletto knew that if Jarod followed him here he would sooner or later have found the Slayer.  It was probably the reason he survived the trap he set in the library.

It was no big deal.  That was a half-assed attempt anyways.  Stiletto just wanted to remind Jarod he wasn't hiding.

In fact he had figured Buffy and Jarod would've started working together at some point.

He then walked over to a desk and picked up a photo of Darien.  Stiletto hadn't figured on this guy showing up.  It took him awhile to remember him from San Diego that night.

Whoever this guy was, he was the wild card in this situation.  

Stiletto found it ironic that Darien didn't even know he was being followed at the Bronze while the Invisible Man was tracking Jarod.

It doesn't matter.  I'll get you tonight Jarod and that'll be the end of it. 

----

All the other Scoobies were doing research in the library when Angel, Sydney and Darien made it back.  

Nobody in the library were paying attention to them, instead focus on other things.

It wasn't until Sydney said, "Jarod?"  That the Pretender noticed who had come in with Angel and Darien.

"Sydney?"  He smiled and hugged the older man.  He couldn't believe he was actually here.  

Willow was next to Jarod, puzzled that yet enough stranger was here.  "Jarod who's your friend?"  
Jarod turned toward everyone and told the group after a few seconds.  "This is Doctor Sydney Greene.  He was my protector at the Centre."

"Wait.  This guy is from that Centre you told us about?  Isn't he a bad guy?"  Xander asked.

"Not exactly.  He's been helping me ever since I escaped.  How did you find where I was?  Is Miss Parker with you?"

Sydney shook his head.  "No I came here alone.   When I found out you here I wasn't actually looking for you at first.  I was looking for Angel."

The others in the room varied their glances between Sydney and Angel.

"Angel you know about all this?"  Was all his girlfriend asked.

Sydney answered the girl before the vampire could.  "It's strange yes.  We met a long time ago."

----

**New York City**

**May 14, 1984**

**9:38 p.m.**

A much younger Sydney Greene had just left a psychiatrist conference at the Arden House in Columbia University.  

It was a warm spring night and he decided to walk the few miles to his hotel, which was further into Manhattan.

Sydney had spent most of his walk going over what had happened during the conference.

That being said, it took him awhile to realize that as he was walking someone was following him.

At first Sydney just walked faster hoping that his imagination was making him paranoid.

But several minutes later he looked over his shoulder and saw he still being followed.

Sydney knew he was too far away from his hotel and there didn't seem to be any cabs.  

Worse still, most of the street was deserted. He was on his own.

So the good doctor did the only thing he could think of.  He ducked into an alley and made a break for it.

He didn't seem to be fast enough though.  His stalker caught up to him and threw him against the wall of the alley.

Sydney fell on top of a large cardboard box before slamming to the ground.

"Heh I like it when they run!"  Sydney's attacker had stopped and was hovering over him. 

It was then that Dr. Greene realized the man's face looked warped.  He had large canine teeth almost protuding from his mouth and what looked to be bumps on his forehead.  

He got up and tried fighting back but his attacker didn't even seem to flinch from the punches Sydney threw and tossed him back to the ground.

Both men then heard something from behind them.  Someone had been inside the cardboard box Sydney had been thrown into.

It was Angel.  He was wearing nothing but torn clothing and his long, ragged hair gave the appearance that he was just another homeless man in New York.

The vampire chasing Sydney knew better though.  "This is none of your concern.  Walk away!"

That last comment seem to infuriate Angel.  "Walk away?  This is my home!"  

And with that Angel rushed the other vampire and a brutal fight took place.  

While Angel had been one the most brutal vampires in his day.  His self-imposed exile from the rest of the world caused his considerable skills to deteriorate so that this was a more even fight than he wanted.

By the time Angel had staked his opponent a minute later, he had several deep cuts from his attacker.

Sydney watched the entire episode play out.  The doctor was more in amazement than horror.  Especially after his stalker collapsed into a pile of dust.

After the fight ended, he was still there in awe.  That surprised Angel more than anything since most people simply ran at the first opportunity.

"Get out!"  Was all Angel told him.

"Wait!"  Sydney tried getting the vampire's attention as he walked away.  He came up to him and put his hand on Angel's shoulder.

Angel responded by grabbing his arm and slamming him against the alley.  His vampiric face was still on.  "Understand that I can kill you in the blink of an eye if I wanted to.  Go Away!"

"If you wanted to kill me you already would have.  You saved my life."

Angel stopped him before he said anything else.  "Don't.  Just don't.  I'm not part of your world.  I'm nobody.  I'm a monster."  
"I don't believe that.  I've seen more monsters that much worse than I think you are.  And if anything I believe every person in this world has a purpose in it.  Even you."  Decades of working next to Mr. Raines had if anything shown how a human could be just as much of a monster as whatever Angel was.

Sydney reached into his pocket and pulled out all the money he had with him.  "Here take this."

"I don't need your money."  Angel said defiantly.

"Please.  I owe you at least that much."  He also pulled out his business card with his phone number on it.  "If you ever need anything.  My name is Sydney Green.  Don't hesitate to contact me."

Angel could hardly believe it.  In almost a century, this had been the first human not to react in fear or disgust whenever he had tried to help.  This man had actually been willing to help him.  And it felt genuine, not out of personal gain.

Angel cautiously took Sydney's gift and muttered.  "Thank you."  
He started to walk away but Sydney yelled.  "Wait!  I didn't even get your name."

The vampire slowly turned around and told him.  "My name is Angel."

And without saying another word, Angel disappeared around a corner.

Sydney, now alone, could only think about the irony of that name.  "Well wherever you are Angel.  Good Luck to you."

----

"I never thought I would hear from Angel again.  However, he contacted me a few months later.  We kept in touch every now and then after that.  He told about who he was.  A vampire cursed with a soul.  Over the years I tried to help him as much as I could."

"So wait a sec.  Angel you had a psychiatrist?"  Xander interrupted Sydney's back-story.

Everyone else laughed, especially Darien.

Angel sighed.  He probably thought it would've been funny too if it weren't him.

"Hey just because I'm two hundred forty years old that doesn't mean I can't have a mid-life crisis.  Can we get back to the story please?"

Sydney chuckled to himself.  "A couple of years ago I had stopped hearing from him.   Then about four years ago I received a letter from him.  I still have it actually."

He pulled out an old piece of paper and handed it to Buffy.  She curiously unfolded it and read it aloud.

_Sydney,_

_It's been a long time since we last talked.  I just wanted to tell you I'm still alive, or as close as I could be to that._

_When we first met you told me that you felt that everyone had his or her purpose or place in this world.  I didn't believe you.  For years I thought it was nothing but a crock.  But a few days ago I found a guy in the city looking for me.  He said a lot of the same things you did that night.  So I started thinking maybe you were both right._

_There's this place in Southern California called Sunnydale.  A lot of my kind are there and they've been killing hundreds of people in that town.  Supposedly there's some girl called a Slayer who's about to arrive here who can fight them all.  I guess I'm here to help, whatever that could be._

_You know for eighty years I wandered around the world and you were the only person who didn't shun me when I tried to help them.  I don't know if I'll ever be able to contact you against but I felt you deserved to know how much you helped me and I wanted to say thank you._

_Angel_

Buffy looked at Angel after reading the letter.  "A guy found you?  Whistler?"

The vampire just nodded.  "Yep."

"I had hoped that whatever Angel was doing he had found some peace in his existence.  So I can assume the girl you were meant to help was this young woman?"  Sydney asked.

"Yeah that's right.  So this whole time you weren't looking for Jarod you were looking for me."

"Well when Jarod called me after the bombing.  I got here as fast I could and went looking for you.  I didn't know if he was still here or not but it was my hope that I could find you and he would be able to help Jarod and myself against this assassin.  Of course I should've expected you and Jarod would be together already."

Sydney then looked at Jarod.  "I should've counted on you finding Angel without me.  You probably don't need me here."

Jarod didn't believe it.  "Sydney don't ever say that.  You being here makes this much easier."

"Uh guys?"  Darien got involved in the conversation at this point.  "Now I know I'm new here and all but what's a Slayer?  And for that matter what's with this town?"

Jarod agreed.  "Yeah.  I have to agree with Darien this place is very strange and I don't know why."

Giles decided to field that question.  Being the resident historian on all things about Sunnydale he explained to the two men the truth about this place.

"Ah yes.  Well you see Jarod and Darien:  this town was built on top of a dimensional portal known as a Hellmouth.  It's a gateway into a demon dimension whose remnants were banished from Earth eons ago.  The energies given off by it attract all sorts of vampires and demonic creatures to here.  Not only that but the energies have been known to change the people living here.  Uh Darien that girl Marcie Ross that we thought you were.  She was a loner, always being ignored by those around her for some reason or other, because of that she was turned permanently invisible.  Around two years ago she tried to kill several of us and mutilate Cordelia's face."

Cordelia shut her eyes, trying to not to relive that hellish time from her past as Giles told these outsiders about Marcie.

Needless to say Darien interest was peaked.  "So what happened to her?"  
Buffy told them.  "I dunno.  I stopped her and then these two F.B.I. agents took her away.   They said they would 'rehabilitate' her.  Kinda gave you the idea this had happened before."

"And she was stuck that way?  I mean she couldn't change back?"  
"Yeah Darien.  I mean you could, she couldn't.  We don't know why."

I'll bet I do.  The Official and I are going to have a long talk when I get back.  It's too bad she ended up just like Arnaud.  I guess there could be worse things than having this gland in my head.   Was all Darien thought.  "So Buffy what are you in all this?"

Giles walked over to her and stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders.  "Buffy is the Slayer.  Records say that in every generation a young girl is chosen to fight those creatures.  When one Slayer dies another is found to take her place.  I'm her Watcher, it's my job to guide her on this quest as the chosen one."

Even though Sydney had known to some degree about what was going on here, he along with Jarod and Darien were speechless.

----

At the other end of town.  Hobbes and Claire were wondering all over the streets of Sunnydale looking for their friend.  

They checked his room at Motel 6, but while it was clear he hadn't checked out, he wasn't there.

It was too late at night to get help from the local authorities.  Besides the Agency's cover was that it was a small branch of the U.S. Fish and Game Agency.  And while it ensured a constant, albeit minor, trickle of funding the mock Fish and Game badges all agents carried didn't exactly strike fear into most people.

So the two resigned themselves to trying a sweep around the town.  Hobbes had his infrared goggles on; trying to avoid all the weird stares people gave him.  

Claire was with him trying to help as best as she could.

"This can't be right."

"Bobby what is it?"  The Keeper asked him.

"I know this is gonna sound strange but some of these guys ain't showin up on thermal."

"Huh?  Bobby that's impossible!  Are you sure your goggles aren't broken?"

"Nah I checked already."  He pulled off his thermal goggles.  Though Darien could become invisible to the naked eye, he still had a body heat signature just like everyone else and thus could be seen using infrared tracking.

"I mean see those guys at the other end of the street?" Hobbes handed the goggles to Claire.  

"Yeah I see them."

"Well look at 'em with the goggles on.  Most people give off a bright color like red or orange when you look through there.  Those guys show the darkest color.  It's like they don't have any body heat."

Claire looked through the goggles and sure enough Hobbes was right.  That still didn't mean she believed it.  "It has to be a problem with your goggles.  I mean what you just said it's scientifically impossible!"

"Hey Keep I'm not disagreein.  You gotta admit it's weird though."

Hobbes didn't get a chance to continue because his cell phone starting ringing.  He groaned, already knowing who it was.  "What do you want now?"

It was Eberts on the other end.  "Robert you were ordered to give an update every three hours.  Have you found Darien?"

Hobbes hated being called by his full first name.  

He argued with Eberts for some time.  

Claire just was trying to ignore them.  She heard something falling just behind her.  When she turned around, she saw a large green monster not even five feet from her.

It was the Kiash Demon that Buffy had fought several nights ago.  And it looked like it thought it had found an easy kill.

The Keeper tried to scream but nothing came out.  She staggered backwards in horror.

Hobbes had no idea what was going on.  He was too engrossed in his phone conversation.  The man told Eberts, stringing out every word to make his point.  "Look When I Find Fawkes I Will Call."

Claire bumped into Hobbes.  "Claire what's your prob…" He turned around, saw the demon, and freaked out.  A million thoughts ran through his mind but all that got out of his mouth was, "…Holy Shit!"

The Kiash demon grabbed Claire.  She tried struggling to no avail.  

"Get your hands off her ugly!"  Hobbes yelled.

He threw a left jab only to feel the bones in his hands crack as he punched its tough green hide.

The Kiash Demon threw Claire into an alley as Hobbes shook his hand in pain.

That didn't stop Bobby though.  He tried another punch but the demon grabbed his hand in mid swing and twisted his wrist, which almost broke it.

It then threw Hobbes into a pile of garbage bags in the alley.  

Claire was backing away in horror while Hobbes struggled to get up, all the while muttering "What the hell?" and "Oh God!"

The demon was feeling pretty full of himself.  "Grrrraahhhh!"  It let out a massive roar to try and scare it's two opponents.

It didn't scare Hobbes, well at least not more than he already was.  

Hobbes just looked back at it and yelled.  "Brrrraaaahhhh!"  He scratched his hands on his sides like a gorilla for emphasis but it looked more corny than scary.

But unlike the demon, he had a 9mm handgun, which he quickly pulled out of his holster and fired after his King Kong impression.

The Kiash demon was hit three times at point blank range and crumpled to the ground in a growing puddle of green blood.

Bobby was wide eyed in shock as he let that encounter sink in.

"Jesus…you know it woulda been nice of Fawkes to tell us he was in Wonderland."

"Bobby are you alright?"  Claire asked him as she got up and over to him.

"Yeah I think…" Hobbes tried to get back up but when he used his left hand to push himself back up off the garbage a wave of pain shot through that arm.  "…Ahhhhh!"

Claire quickly checked out his arm.  She lightly tapped his wrist, Bobby grunted in pain.  "Does that hurt?"  
"What do you think?"  He growled.

"C'mon.  Let's get you to a hospital.  We should get that checked out."  Claire helped him up and out of the alley.  Since he was in so much pain he didn't even notice his cell phone had fallen out was lying on top of the garbage pile.

----

"So this guy was hired by the Centre to kill me.  From everything I've seen he's been used guerilla tactics the two times he's attempted.  It's almost as if he's not willing to try a direct confrontation.  I still don't know who he is."

Jarod was getting as in depth as he could on Stiletto.  He had been lucky two times and wasn't willing to test his luck again.

He was going over this a second time to fill in any holes he left out after Darien made his crashing entrance and to tell Sydney what he had found out.

The Watcher added his own points.  "Well Jarod I think between all of us, the list of people we think that could do this is too long to mention."

That was an understatement.  Just every person here had an opinion on who the assassin could be.

Jarod and the Scoobies had been looking through some of Giles' books to try to find something or anything to help them out.

Finally Willow seemed to have something that may be of use.

"Hey look at this!"  She pointed toward a passage in a book she was looking through as the other gathered around.  "It's a spell.  Every time somebody uses a spell it's like a fingerprint.  Everyone has their own signature.  This is a locator spell, it can find whoever put that enchantment on the weapons cabinet."

Darien stopped her at that point.  "Hold on Willow.  Magic?  That doesn't exist."

"Yes it does!  H-How do you explain what happened this morning?"

"I've got my guesses."

Buffy told the Invisible Man.  "She's right Darien.  Magic does exist.  All of us in Sunnydale have seen it."

He still had his doubts.  "Hey I think I know how that might've happened this morning.  Uh…I just need to make a call."

Darien walked out of the library to verify his guess.

"Um…Doctor Greene?"  Willow asked.  

"Please its just Sydney.  What is it?"  
"I was just thinking.  How did you find Angel if you didn't hear from him in four years."

That was a good question.  Sydney replied.  "Well I didn't know where to look exactly.  I was told there was a man here named Willy who knew about everything in this town."

"Maybe he knows something about Stiletto."  Buffy added.

Angel was in that line of thought too.  "It's worth a shot.  Buffy and me can head down there.  Sydney maybe you should come too since you talked to him last."

"Yes Jarod and I will accompany you.  Mr. Giles would you come too?  There are some things I wish to discuss with you."

"Uh…well yes.  Yes that's no problem."  

As the five of them got really to leave, Willow asked Buffy.  "You gonna be alright?  I-I mean you don't need us."

The Slayer just shook her head.  "This is probably just a dead end.  Honestly I think your spell has a much better chance of working than this.  We'll be fine, we should be back in half an hour."

Jarod wrote down his cell phone number and passed it to Willow.  "Willow, if you guys find anything call us.  I'll leave my phone on."

They left through the main entrance of the school.  The Invisible Man didn't even know they were gone since he left through the side entrance.

----

As for Darien he was in the parking lot of the High School.  Everyone had their own guesses on Stiletto and so did he.  

Before he went to the others with his assumptions he figured he might want to find something substantial to back it up with.

He pulled out his cell phone and called the Agency.  A tired voice answered.

"Hobbes I don't have time for this."

"Eberts?"

"Darien?  Oh my god!  Where are you?  Is Hobbes with you?"  Eberts suddenly felt very awake.  Thanks to Darien's surprise call a surge of adrenaline went through him.  
"Whoa slow down!  I'm still here by myself what are you talking about?"  
"Darien, Hobbes is in Sunnydale looking for you!  I just got off the phone with him!"

The Invisible Man wondered how the Agency knew he was here.  Then it came to him.  "You've been tracking me haven't you?  Christ Eberts don't you guys have anything better to do than play 'Where In The World Is Darien Fawkes?'"

Eberts got defensive at this point.  "That wasn't my choice I was under orders from the Official!  If I recall you were the one who went AWOL and started this fiasco.  Anyways that man you're following named Jarod, we've found out quite a few things about him."

"Old news."  Darien decided not to get stressed over The Agency.  He had enough things to worry about.  "Listen do me a favor.  I know it's a long shot but bear with me.  Does the Agency have any records on a contract assassin named Stiletto?"

After thinking for a minute Eberts started remembering something.  "Um…yeah I think…hold on."  He brought the phone over to a filing cabinet and pulled out a manila folder.  "Yes here it is.  Let's see here.  Well according to this report he's the primary suspect in over two dozen different murders over the last few years.   He's been all over the world.  New York, London and…oh god…they think he was involved some particularly gruesome hits in Prague from a few years back.  Darien what's going on down there?"

Darien explained.  "I'm almost positive this guy was the bomber in San Diego.  And he's here in Sunnydale."

"You're serious?"

"Yup.  And here's the kicker, I think he's Arnaud…"

Darien explained what had transpired in the library that morning.  He still did not believe any other explanation other then the idea that Arnaud was in the library and he was the one who was attacking Jarod and Buffy with from the weapons cabinet.

"…so I think it makes sense.  Either that or Simon Cole is still using my body to take another trip across the universe.  You did get that psycho outta my head, right?"  

That last part was more of a demand than a question.  Simon Cole was a C.I.A. agent who had been originally chosen to be the Invisible Man.  However after the gland was implanted in him he went insane and died.

The gland was taken out and later implanted into Darien.  But shreds of Cole's RNA still resided in the gland which manifested itself into an alternate personality based on Cole's memories while Darien was asleep.  Several people were nearly killed before Claire managed to get rid of the junk data in the gland.

Eberts tried to reassure Darien on the Cole issue.  "Darien I can guarantee we removed any traces of Simon Cole.  Now about Stiletto.  If this is really him well he's on the F.B.I. and Interpol's most wanted list.  I can convince the Official to send a team since this is such a dangerous situation.  They'll be there in twelve hours and'll bring this guy into custody."

But Darien wanted no part of that line of thought.  "Eberts on the list of things I'm gonna do to this guy when I find him, bringing him in maybe gets an honorable mention at the bottom."

"Darien listen to me!  Do you know how much clout the Agency can get if we apprehend this guy?"

"Sorry.  Ain't gonna happen."

"Darien!"

"Eberts!"  Darien mimicked him right down to the mocking tone.

"You're going to make this difficult aren't you?"

"Yup.  Hey one more thing.  See if there's anything on a Marcie Ross."

"Why?"

"I'll get back to you on that.  Just call it a hunch.  I'm guessing I know how Kevin came up with the idea for the gland."

Darien hung up and rolled his left sleeve up.  He looked at the dragon tattoo that acted as the meter for when he hit Quicksilver Madness.  Six of the seven scales on the tattoo were red, which meant Darien was fairly close to going insane.  He had been forced to go invisible in City Hall to escape the Mayor and to sneak into the library earlier.

The Invisible Man had a choice.  Either take the chance and hope he wouldn't go psycho or find Hobbes and get a shot of counteragent.

He punched in Hobbes' number and prayed it was on.

----

In the alley where the Kiash Demon had nearly killed Hobbes and Claire, Hobbes cell phone just kept ringing on top of the pile of garbage.

----

"C'mon Bobby pick up your damn phone!"

Darien let it ring a few more times before giving up.  He made a mental note of trying again later.

One thing was for sure, there was no way he could afford to use any more Quicksilver for the time being.

This lawyer, Gerry Spence, once said in a book. "I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief."

Of course this schmuck never set foot in Sunnydale.  With all the crap I've been through in this town lemme tell ya:  Ignorance is Bliss.

See if you had said three days ago that I'd chase a guy who plays make believe for a living into a town full of vampires, whose sworn enemy was a hundred pound high school girl, I'd probably advise you to buy some more of that batch you're smoking 'cause it's really good.  Of course this is coming from a guy who can turn invisible on a whim so who am I to throw stones?  I guess reality is stranger that fiction…

Darien walked back into the library and saw half of the people who were in the library when he walked out were gone.  "Where is everyone?"

Xander, Oz, Cordelia and Willow were still here though.

"They're checking out a lead."   Was all Cordelia told him.  She didn't even look up from her book as if everything was fine.

"Hey I might've wanted to go too!"

She shrugged.  "Trust me it's no big deal.  You've seen one demon you've seen em all."

"Darn!"  From across the room Willow tossed an empty bottle on the table.

Oz asked.  "Willow what's wrong?"

"One of the things I need for this spell; we don't have any left!"

Darien reacted in disbelief.  He was desperately trying to keep an open mind about this town but magic was not something he was willing to believe without some type of tangible evidence.  And that meant something more than a few books that to him seemed older than Gutenberg's Bible. "Not this again."

"Hey m-magic is real!"  Willow was trying to be as convincing as the shy girl could.

He sarcastically replied, "Sure it is Willow."

"Hey you know vampires are real why not magic?"  

Darien had to admit the redhead did have a point.  "Well for one thing I've actually seen one…well two if you count Angel."

Oz then spoke up in defense of his girlfriend.  "Ya know Darien why don't you come with Willow and me to get the stuff we need for this spell?  Then you can see for yourself."

Darien thought it over for a minute.  Figuring he wasn't doing anything productive in the library he said, "Sure.  Beats doing nothing here."

Xander got up from the table and joined into the conversation. "Don't leave me outta this I wanna come too!  This gonna take awhile?"  

"We should be there and back.  The others won't even know we're gone."  Was all Oz said as the four of them walked out of the library a moment later.

Afterwards Cordelia looked up from her book and realized she was alone.  

"Hey wait for me!"

----

Buffy, Angel, Giles, Jarod and Sydney were on their way to Willy's.  It was a shot in the dark but they really didn't have much of an alternative.

Jarod and Angel were comparing things about Sydney with Buffy adding her own thoughts every now and then.

Giles and Sydney were ten feet behind them.  The two older men were in their own conversation.

"Well you see Giles I've had this nagging feeling something about Angel isn't right.  I could tell as much I saw him at his apartment.  Like he was hiding he was ashamed about.  Did something happen to him here?"

Giles took off his glasses and rubbed them off.  This was a very touchy subject for all of them.  It didn't help that there hadn't much of a sense of closure after Acathala.

With a deep breath and a very serious tone in his voice Giles said.  "Angel's curse had been broken last year.  Apparently if he ever had a moment of true happiness his soul would be taken away from him and he would turn back into Angelus.  Angelus was a particularly brutal vampire, the fabled 'Scourge of Europe'.  He killed several of our friends and tortured us physically and emotionally for months.  It was…like a game to him."

"My God.  But what happened?  Angel doesn't seem anything like that now."  
"We discovered a way to re-apply the curse to him.  But by then Angelus had tried to open a portal to hell to destroy the world.  Buffy was forced to send him to hell to close it.  It devastated her.  Her entire life had fallen apart during that final encounter and she ran away for months before coming to terms with what had happened."

Sydney shook his head, realizing how much his friend and those Angel cared about had suffered because of that.

----

Ten minutes later after the Scoobies and Darien had left the library, Willow had everything she needed from the magic store and they were heading back there to see if they locate Stiletto's location.

Willow and Oz were making small talk ahead of the others.

Darien, wanting to know more about these kids, started up his own conversation with Xander.

"Xander."

"Darien?  What's up?"

"I was just wondering.  How the hell long have you guys been doing this?"

"Doing what?  You mean fighting all the bad guys Sunnyhell has to offer?"

"Pretty much."  
"Bout three years.  Nothing but fighting vampires, demons and the occasional apocalypse."

Darien whistled in admiration.  "Hey I heard you laughing after I left with Angel a few hours ago.  You do know that wisecrack I made wasn't *that* funny, right?"

Xander couldn't help but laugh.  "Nah see I've been calling Deadboy that since we first met him.  He really hates it."

The older man arched an eyebrow.  "Really?  Heh great minds think alike.  I should call him that a lot more."

They both snorted a laugh.  The Invisible Man seemed to think he and Xander had a lot in common.  Both of them had sarcastic streaks a mile wide and it seemed like the young man, much like himself, didn't react too well to people telling him what he could or couldn't do.

That and the fact that both of them seemed to hate Angel.

Darien almost wondered that if he never gotten into the stealing business, he might've ended up like Xander Harris minus all the 'fighting vampires' stuff.

"Xander can I trust you with something?"

"Shoot."

Darien rolled up his sleeve revealing his dragon tattoo.

Xander was just in awe.  "Whoa.  That's so cool."

"It's more than just a tattoo.  See how the red goes up most of it?  Well that was the down side of this gland I've got that I mentioned earlier.  If the red goes all the way up, I have a psychotic episode."

"That can't be good."

The Invisible man nodded.  "Exactly.  I need an injection of something called Counteragent to make it go back down.  Problem is I don't have any."

Darien was being serious.  Xander could tell as much.  

The young man was beginning to get the feeling Darien was starting to trust him.  

The fact that he was being this way with only Xander made the young man feel like he was doing something to help out.  "So how do we find some of this Counteragent?"  
"You can't just make the stuff.  Believe me I wish I could Xander.  My partner from the Agency is somewhere in town with some.  Short, bald guy named Hobbes.  Problem is I can't find the guy and he's not answering his cell."

He wanted to tell Xander more about the gland but the five of them suddenly stopped when they saw somebody in front of them.

"Darien."

There was a black guy wearing a suit in that suddenly appeared in front of the group.  Two more vampires were behind the young people cutting off any escape in the other direction.

All of the Scoobies got very nervous.  Darien just looked confused.

"Huh?  Whose this?"

Willow nervously told him without taking her gaze off the black man in front of her.  "His name is Mr. Trick.  He works for the Mayor."

It took the Invisible Man a second to put two and two together but when he did he didn't like the outcome.

"Ah crap."

----

Willy's bar was a haven for most vampires and other demonic creatures.  Needless to say when the Slayer walked through the door several vampires instantly got up and headed out the back entrance.

Willy just sighed, figuring he'd just lost a good chunk of business for the rest of the night.  Then tried to put his best face on.

"It's the Slayer!  What'cha doin around this neck of the woods?"

Buffy grabbed him by the hair before saying anything.  "What can you tell us about Stiletto."

The snitch immediately got defensive.  "Hey hold up!  You in a bad mood?"

"I got suspended and no I'm not feeling great today.  So either tell us what we want to know or I'm going to take out some of my anger on you and this craphole."

"Buffy!  Enough!  Let me handle this."  Was all Jarod told her.

She reluctantly let go of the snitch as Jarod tried another way to get the information they needed.

"Willy, right?  I was just wondering do you have a liquor license for this establishment?"

Willy's face went white.  "It's in the mail!"

"Mmmhhhmmm…One more thing.  Just by looking around I can see at least fourteen different codes violations.  I'm betting there'd be more in a thorough investigation.  You're probably looking at close to…oh I don't know…two thousand dollars in penalties."  Jarod's face had a big shit eating grin the entire time he was talking.

Willy hadn't been expecting this.  He could deal with the occasional physical violence.  Getting beaten up by a gorgeous seventeen year old at least provided for some strange fantasies he could think about later on.  

But this guy Jarod was just being cruel.  

"You wouldn't!"

"Watch me Willy."

Willy's shoulders slumped down in defeat.

"Okay!  Okay!  He's a hitman!  Rumor has it he's in town for some hit on a new guy in Sunnydale."  

The Pretender still had questions though, "Where is he?"

"That's all I know I swear!"

"Jarod I think we're done here."  Was all Giles said.  "He doesn't know anything we already did."

"I kinda figured.  So I guess Willow's our best bet now.  We should head back."

Sydney had an incredulous look at Angel then back at Buffy.

"You mean to tell me I just paid him fifty dollars for Angel's whereabouts when all I had to do was threaten him?"

Buffy just smiled in response.

----

"This is it Jarod.  You're a dead man this time."

Stiletto was on the roof across the street from Willy's bar.  He had staked out the library waiting for the Pretender to leave all night.  

He picked up a scoped hunting rifle and got in position.  

This was perfect.  As soon as Jarod walked out of Willy's he would be in clear view.

Even if you survive this you won't make it through the night. 

----

As Sydney walked out of the bar behind the others, he was really starting to feel old.  It seemed like the people he knew where suffering and he couldn't do anything to stop it.

He was Jarod's protector and he was Angel's friend.  He watched as the both of them dealt with the guilt and grief of an untold number of deaths that neither of them committed but they both felt at fault for.

Worse still, he had seen the horrors displayed by monsters from two different worlds:  Sunnydale and the Centre.

He stayed behind everyone else as he pondered these events.  

By chance Sydney looked up and thought saw something shimmering off the top of the building.  He thought it was nothing until saw it two more times.  And after hearing Jarod talk about Stiletto, he had a fairly good idea what it was.

"Jarod look out!"

Sydney rushed toward Jarod and shoved him out of the way just before a shot rang out.  He felt something rip into his abdomen and Sydney fell to his knees then to the ground.

Jarod just witnessed what had happened in fear and shock.  "Oh God No!  SYDNEY!"

----

TBC


	6. Plans in motion Part 2 Trump Card

**Plans in Motion (2/3) – Trump Card**

----

The time between hearing the gunshot and Sydney falling to the ground seemed like an eternity to Jarod.  Watching his mentor and best friend shot in the gut was an emotional blow the likes of which he'd never experienced.

In just a few seconds he felt shock, pain and most of all fear.

He didn't have much time to think about it though.  After Buffy realized the sniper was probably after Jarod she pulled him into an alley out of the line of fire.

Angel had rushed over to Sydney's prone form lying on the ground, effectively shielding Sydney from any more fire.  Two more shots went off and ripped into Angel's back.  He tried to ignore the searing pain from the bullet wounds, picked up his friend and brought him into the alley.

Jarod started giving Sydney first aid with Giles helping as best he could.  "He's losing a lot of blood."  He tossed Buffy his phone.  "Buffy call an ambulance!"

"Jarod…" Sydney was barely conscious and weakly muttered his friend's name.

The Pretender ripped off part of his shirt and applied pressure to the exit wound to stop Sydney from losing more blood.  He held up Sydney's head, "Dammit Sydney!  Don't you die on me!"

----

Jarod you have to be the luckiest Son of a Bitch on the face of the planet. 

Stiletto could hardly believe Jarod had survived his trap for a third time.

And now the plan he had made up was going to hell.  There was no way to stop what would happen next.

Seeing as how Stiletto hadn't accomplished much by myself.  He decided now was the time to enlist some help.

----

**Sunnydale Power Station**

"Hey Karl!  Something's wrong.  My computer isn't responding.  How's yours?"

"One sec I'll…shit I'm locked out!"

"Is the node screwing up again?"  
"I don't know man.  Hold on something's showing up on the network.  Oh my god there's a virus in the mainframe.  Jesus Christ it's locked out everything!  We gotta cut the connection!"

They didn't get the chance because a few seconds later the station, and most of the city, shut down.

----

In another part of town, the Invisible Man and the remaining Scoobies were in their own world of trouble.

"You're a hard man to find Fawkes.  Should've figured you'd end up with these annoying brats."

Darien had no idea why Mr. Trick had been sent to track him down.  "Is Wilkins that pissed off over a softball trophy?  Look just let these guys go they aren't involved."

Trick could only chuckle at Darien's ignorance.  "You don't get it do you?  They've been more involved in all this than you ever will.  'Sides Wilkins'll give me anything I want if I bring him the Slayer's friends.  As for you…well…let's just say nobody at City Hall will shed a tear if you end in the coroner's office."

Darien made a mock smile and laugh then threw a left hook at Trick.  The vampire took the hit at stared back at him with his game face on before returning the blow.

At this point all hell broke loose.  Oz ran and tackled one of the vampires to the ground.  The other remaining bad guy charged Xander and the two going toe to toe.

All five people in the group were doing their best but unfortunately it wasn't enough since vampires were much stronger than normal humans.

Even though Darien was a fantastic street fighter Trick was beating him by sheer strength and after several punches thrown by both of them Trick had him pinned against the wall and was slowly strangling the life out of him.

The problem with Darien's gland was that whenever he had a rush of adrenaline, whether from being scared or flirting with an attractive woman for example, it would involuntarily kick in.  Slowly being choked to death would probably give anybody a head rush.

So Trick was shocked when his opponent suddenly disappeared into thin air.  He could still feel Darien neck but couldn't see him.  "What the fuck?"

Darien wasted no time regaining the initiative.  He kicked Trick in the groan then grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed him against the wall he was next to.

He then took a second to survey the fight.  Xander and Oz's fights had merged into one big brawl and both of them were getting beaten up pretty badly.

There was a trashcan near Darien with a long metal pipe sticking out of it.  He grabbed it and yelled "Xander!" to get the boy's attention.  

"I'm kinda busy here!"

"Catch!"

Darien coated the pipe in Quicksilver and tossed it to Xander. It had stayed visible long enough for Xander to catch it without it hitting him in the face.

"Cool!  Thanks man!"  Xander found the nearest vampire and connected with a vicious swing that would've made Babe Ruth proud.  The vampire, never seeing the invisible pipe and not expecting any real trouble from this kid, fell to the ground moaning and clutching his head in pain.  

Xander looked rather happy with himself.  He reached into his pocket, then panicked and started going through his other pockets.

I kill a vampire almost all by myself and I forget to bring a friggin steak!  Son of a…

Meanwhile Cordelia started throwing anything heavy she could find in the trashcan at the vampire Oz was still fighting.  It wasn't much more of than nuisance to him but finally he got sick of it and turned around to confront Cordelia.

Queen C got nervous when she saw the vampire coming toward her.  "Xander!"

Her boyfriend turned to face Cordy's attacker but the pipe he was holding jumped out his hand by its own power.

Willow was behind with a look of concentration.  She levitated the pipe and used her mind to fling it at the last standing vampire hitting it in the face.  That distraction gave Oz just enough time to pull out a steak and turn him into ash.

Darien held his neck as he watched this last part play out.  "Hey Xander you alright?"

He could hear Xander mutter something about 'Lost Glory'.  His face looked pretty beat up and was covered in bruises and few cuts.  "Darien I feel like a used piñata."

"Ouch.  So this is what you guys do for fun, huh?"

"Not much else to do in this town."

"My God why do you guys do this?  I mean I didn't have a choice in the deal when they shoved this gland in my head."

"Hey the Buffster is our friend.  That's all that matters."

The circumstances causing Darien Fawkes to become the invisible weren't under his control.  That along with constant injections of Counteragent to keep from going crazy, the lack of decent pay and respect at the Agency from everybody but Hobbes and Claire and the fact that he really didn't control his life as much as a normal person caused no end of grief for him.

So the fact that Xander, Willow, Oz and Cordelia were helping Buffy without any coercion or regard for themselves led him to believe the Slayer had some real friends to count on.

And Darien suddenly had a newfound respect for these kids who put their lives on the line when they didn't have to.

The Scoobies were beginning to group back together.  Xander came over to Cordelia, who was near Darien.  She held Xander's face and tried to stop the bleeding from a few of the larger gashes.  Oz was being tended to by Willow as well.

But while they were going about this, they neglected the two remaining vampires.  Both of them were down but by no means out.

Darien wasn't expected that however.  So it came as a complete surprise to him when Trick got back up.  He threw a hard blow to Darien's midsection.  When Darien bent over in pain he then brought his knee up into his face sending Darien to the ground.  The vampire then backhanded Cordelia, who fell into Xander knocking the both of them over.

Trick yanked Darien's up from the ground and sank his teeth into the Invisible Man's neck.    What should have been a typical feed to him got complicated when Darien's gland kicked in again.  

The vampire threw Darien away and hunched over coughing and gagging after finding out Quicksilver doesn't taste very good.

Adrenaline was pumping through Darien.  That was causing his Quicksilver gland to kick in way too many times.  He was already dangerously close to reaching his limit to how much Quicksilver he could use before he red eyed but the fight pushed him over the edge.

It all became too much to handle and Darien collapsed to the ground as he became visible again.   Thus Darien Fawkes' eyes went blood red as he entered Stage 1 Quicksilver Madness.

Cordy was the first one to notice something was wrong.  "Hey what's happening to Darien?"  

All of the Scoobies stopped and looked at their fallen comrade.  

Since Darien had trusted Xander enough to tell him about his gland, he was the only one who had some idea of what was going on.  "Oh crap!  We gotta get him outta here!

The Scoobies ran over to help him but much to everyone's surprise the power suddenly went out.  

If that wasn't enough a black BMW, disoriented from the blackout, ran right through the group slamming into a telephone poll.

----

It takes most people a few hours to drive from L.A. to Sunnydale.

Miss Parker made it in just over one.  She was blazing along the highway, effortlessly passing cars doing *only* 80.

Broots was in the front passenger seat and couldn't tell if he was going to throw up from carsickness or have a heart attack.

"Miss Parker would you please slow down?"  Miss Parker's off handed jab this morning about taking decaf was beginning to look appealing to him.

"Broots if you have problem with my driving then shut your eyes."

She hung a hard right onto Main St.  The power going out didn't faze her much.  

Of course she wasn't expecting a massive fight involving four kids, three vampires and a secret agent going on in the middle of the street.

Miss Parker only had a second to react.  She swerved the car to the right, just barely missing Oz as the other Scoobies dove out of the way.

The BMW she was driving smashed into a fire hydrant, knocking it off the ground from the sheer force of the impact, and stopped after bouncing off a telephone pole.

When Miss Parker came to several minutes later, her head was spinning after slamming her car into a telephone pole.  "Broots you okay?"

She managed to walk away from a head-on collision.  She couldn't tell if it was from good reflexes or just luck.

The hacker wasn't in much better shape than Miss Parker.  "I think so. We drove right through a street fight didn't we?  Oh my God!  We might've killed somebody!"

Miss Parker looked around.  The broken hydrant was shooting water everywhere and she quickly moved to the other side of the car.  The one functioning headlight on her car was the only light source for an entire block as she looked around the street.

"There's nobody here.  Don't worry Broots you don't have to be somebody's girlfriend in prison."

"Not funny.  Listen, I need to find my computer but the compartment light is busted I can't see a thing."

A lighter was casually tossed to him after his boss lit a cigarette.  

Already I don't like it here.  Jarod where the hell are you? 

Suddenly an ambulance came speeding through the street.  It went through a large puddle from the hydrant, soaking Miss Parker in the process.  She looked at the vehicle swearing more times than Broots thought was humanly possible.

The ambulance was forced to swerve to avoid the crashed car.  It caused the back loading door to fly open and a familiar face reached out to shut it.  Miss Parker only had a second to see who it was but it was all the time she needed.

"Jarod you son a of bitch!  Broots, bring up the G.P.S. on your computer and find the nearest hospital."

----

Sunnydale Hospital was among the buildings that lost power in the city.  After ten seconds the hospital's backup generator activated and the lights came back on.

That didn't stop a panic in the ER.  Doctor's rushed around giving out orders to the staff to ensure all the patients were still in stable condition.

Hobbes and the Keeper were there after their fight with the Kiash Demon.  Bobby's left wrist was put in a split to keep it from getting any more damaged.

Hobbes looked out the window and noticed the power loss wasn't just to the hospital.

"Jesus.  Claire the whole damn town is black."

The Keeper, being a doctor, saw the pandemonium going on in the hospital and felt the need to offer her assistance.  "My God.  Bobby I'm going to see what I can do to help here.  I'll check back with you."

Claire ran out of the lobby leaving Hobbes to just keep staring out at the window.  He had a nagging feeling Darien had something to do with this.  He just couldn't figure out what exactly.

Fawkes what the hell have you gotten into? 

The door to the Sunnydale E.R. slid open a few minutes later and two paramedics rolled Sydney in on a gurney with Jarod, Buffy, Giles and Angel close behind.

"We got a gunshot victim!  Blood pressure one –ten over seventy and dropping!"

Jarod, having been a doctor in several of his pretends, was doing his best to help the paramedics with Sydney.

Hobbes did a double take at Jarod, thinking that this was the guy, the D.C.O. Darien was following, that he had been briefed about back at the Agency.  .

Sydney was quickly rolled into emergency surgery.  Leaving Jarod to find the others he came in with in the lobby.  

Giles was trying to pull the slugs out of Angel's back.  

Buffy looked ready to pass out from exhaustion.  "Jarod how is he?"

"They're operating on him now."

That is Jarod!  Perfect that means Fawkes can't be far behind.  So who the hell are these people with him I thought he was alone? 

Hobbes sat down in clear view of Jarod.  He wasn't going to let the Pretender out of his sight until Darien showed up.  

For now he was content to watch and let things play out.  The agent noticed the two men who came in with him and didn't want to confront this possibly dangerous man on the losing side of 3-1 odds.  

That wasn't even counting the young girl but Hobbes was confident she wasn't much of a factor.

So Bobby Hobbes, showing a serious demeanor, sat down in a chair directly in front of the exit.  He crossed his arms with his right hand holding onto his holstered gun just in case.

----

The car that mowed through everybody followed by the power outage brought an abrupt end to the fight between Trick and the Scoobies.  

Willow was separated from her friends, couldn't see a thing and knew that two vampires were still somewhere close by.

She made it to an alley near Main St. and stopped to catch her breath.   

The redhead thought she was alone but somebody crashed into Willow and she fell to the ground with the other person on top of her.

Willow wanted to scream but the other person put a finger on her lips in a motion to keep her silent.

Even though she couldn't see, she could tell it was a guy's hand.  Oz!  Oz is okay thank god! 

She hugged the dark figure and then shared a deep, caring kiss with him.  "Oz thank god it's you!"

"Willow?"  

The only problem was that wasn't her boyfriend's voice.

Willow's face went beat red.   That's not Oz…   "Xander?!?  I-I thought you were Oz!"

"I thought you were Cordy!"  He sounded just as embarrassed as her.

"Well where are they?"

"I dunno!"

Xander cautiously walked back to the street with Willow behind him.  The crashed BMW was still there, its occupants were unconscious.  

One of its headlights was still working giving some light to see.  Unfortunately, Darien, Oz, Cordelia and the vampires were gone.

"Where are they?"  Willow was getting nervous.

"I don't see them.  Maybe they ran off like we did.  Don't worry we'll find them."

The two of them took off desperately hoping they could locate their friends.

----

"Buffy?"

"Giles?"

Willow and Xander found their way into the pitch-black high school hoping their friends were in here but nobody was in the room.

They had tried the Bronze, the Magic Shop and almost every place in between that was still open during the blackout.  

Unfortunately none of the others could be found.  Finally they thought to try in the library but even Buffy and her group hadn't come back yet.

"I can't see a thing.  Xander where are you?"  
"I'm here Will.  I…whoa!"

A loud crashing noise came from the other side of the room.

"Xander you okay?"  
"Yeah I just tripped over a chair.  I'm trying to find Giles' desk he usually keeps a flashlight in here.  Ah here we go!"

The flashlight gave the two of them some light in the room and aside from them it was empty.

As Xander joined his friend on the other side of the library he said.  "Well Buffy and all them aren't here.  Shit that means Cordy, Darien, and Oz are still out there with Trick.  Will I'm worried about Darien.  His eyes looked really screwed up I think went into that Quicksilver wacko thingy he told me about."

"Oh wait!"  Willow fumbled around in her pocket for something.  "Jarod gave me his cell phone number before they left.  Let's just hope the phone lines aren't down too."

----

It had been almost an hour since Sydney had been brought to the hospital and there was no word in his condition.

Jarod was pacing back and forth in the lobby.  The idea of not knowing how his mentor was doing combined with the strong, thick hospital coffee he just drank meant he wasn't going to stay in one spot anytime soon.

He was so antsy, when Willow's call came through he nearly jumped from surprise.  "Hello?  Willow?  Where are you?  Uh huh…no we haven't seen them.  No I'm not joking.  Listen we're at the hospital…because Sydney's been shot.  Alright get down here as soon as you can."

He looked over at Buffy, Giles and Angel.  "That was Willow.  She and Xander are on their way here now."

"What about the others?"  Buffy asked.

"I don't know she didn't say."

"Jarod!" A familiar voice yelled from down the hall.

He had been expecting this.  The man in question turned around.  Her timing as always is impeccable. 

"Miss Parker.  I was wondering when you'd show up.  What happened to you you're soaking wet?"

She ignored that last question.  "You are one hard bastard to find Jarod.  Now you're coming with me."

"I doubt that.  What are you going to do?  Pull a gun on me in the middle of an E.R.?"

Miss Parker seemed to debate that in her head for a second.  A scowl formed on her face when she realized he was right.  "Fine.  Where's Sydney?"

"He's in the E.R."

"WHAT?"

"Stiletto shot him.  He was aiming for me and Sydney pushed me out of the way.  Think about it:  the power convinently going out right afterwards.  He planned this."

"Jarod who the hell is this?"  Angel asked.

He was looking straight at the woman in question as he said.  "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Miss Parker.  The Centre put her in charge of finding me and bringing me back.  Lucky for me she's like an open book so it's easy enough to stay one step ahead of her."

Miss Parker got right in Jarod's face.  "I still have a few surprises.  And like it or not you're not leaving this hospital without me."

"Buffy!"  Willow came running through the entrance to the hospital with Xander close behind.  

The two girls hugged.  Buffy let go of Willow and hugged Xander next.  

"How did you guys get here so quick?  And where's everyone else?"

Xander just twirled Cordelia's key ring on finger in answer to one of the questions.  "You'd be surprised how thin traffic is with the blackout going on."

"Buffy it was horrible!   I-I mean their was a fight…Trick…Car Crash…Darien, O-Oz all of them missing!  Everything's going wrong!"  Willow was rambling.  It happened when she got nervous.

"Wait slow down.  What happened?

Xander decided to step in for his incoherent friend.  "We were going to the Magic shop for something Willow needed for the locator spell.  We got jumped by Trick on the way back."

Buffy heard that and got worried.  Xander was covered in cuts and bruises.  "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah we're fine but got separated from the others.  I mean…everyone else was in bad shape but Darien especially…something about him didn't seem right."

"What do you mean not right?"  Jarod asked.  
"He went all invisible on us then his eyes went all red.  I think something happened to him."

Hobbes was still in the lobby but was almost asleep.  The mention of Darien's name got the man's attention.  Invisible?  Red eyes?  Yeah that's our guy.   

He quickly got over to Xander.  "Hold on.  Are you talking about Fawkes?  You've seen him?  Where is the hell is he?"

Jarod put his hand Hobbes chest to stop.  "Hold on buddy.  Who're you?"

"F.B.I."  Hobbes whipped out his ID badge in a quick motion.  He hoped it would make Jarod buy the idea that he was a federal agent. 

But Jarod wasn't fooled since he had been an agent in several pretends.  "That's an inspection badge for a government bureaucrat.  This guy's not with the F.B.I."

However, Xander remembered Darien telling about the place he worked at earlier.  Hmm short, bald guy.  I wonder…

"Uh…are you Hobbes?"  Xander asked.

Bobby looked surprised this kid knew him.  "Yeah.  How'd you know that?"

"Darien told me.  Hey Jarod this guy's Darien's partner from that Agency he works at."

"What the?!?  Fawkes told you about the Agency?!?  That's classified!"

Xander couldn't help but laugh.  "Your point?"

Smartass.   Hobbes thought to himself.  It's like I'm talking with a teenage version of Fawkes.    "Fine.  So where is he anyways?"

"Well that's the thing we kinda got separated."

Over the next half hour Xander explained more in depth to everyone what had happened.

"Typical. With Fawkes it's never easy.  Hold on a sec."  Hobbes filtered into the sea of hospital staff.  He came out a minute later with the Keeper.  "These guys have been with Fawkes all night."

Claire seemed a little more hopeful from hearing that.  "You've all been with Darien?  And you were the ones who came in with Doctor Greene earlier, right?"

Jarod immediately rushed over to hear after hearing Sydney's name.  "Yes how is he?"

The doctor explained.  Some of the others who were close with Sydney gathered around her as she talked.  "Well he's out of surgery.  He's lost a lot of blood but thankfully the bullet didn't puncture any of his major organs.  Doctor Greene's in intensive care now.  You're that man Jarod, right? You're close with Sydney?"

"Yes he was my legal guardian."

The Keeper looked a bit more upset as she told him, "Well something else you should know.  He's hooked up to life support now.  We think he has a good chance if he makes through the night but…Jarod the backup generator for this hospital wasn't designed to operate for this long.  If we don't get power back within the next few hours the entire building will lose power and Sydney might not make it."

"No.  I know Sydney, he's a fighter he'll make it through this."  Miss Parker commented.

Hobbes walked over, looking at Miss Parker trying to figure where he saw her before.  It then came to him and arm came up in a weird pointing gesture.  "Hey aren't you that chick from the airport?"

The woman groaned as he recognized Hobbes from LAX the night before.  "Oh this just keeps getting better and better.  Jarod this is all your fault.  Sydney came here looking for you.  If he dies I'm holding you responsible."

Miss Parker stormed off to find the E.R. Several of the people in the lobby looked visibly relived she was walking away from them.

Claire found some medical supplies and started treating Willow and Xander.  "Could the both tell about Darien's condition.  Anything else could really help."

With Miss Parker gone, Jarod to crash into a chair and ran his hands threw his head.  He looked exhausted, both emotionally and physically.

Buffy could tell as much.  She had an idea why.  "Jarod you don't believe what she said, right?"

"Why not?  It wasn't wrong."

"It wasn't right either!  

"Jarod listen to me!  There wasn't anything we could've done to stop this killer."

Angel agreed.  "Jarod she's right.  Whoever this bastard is, he's making this very personal."  Giles pulled one of the bullets out of Angel's back causing him stop talking and cry out in pain.   After a few seconds he stopped yelling and finished telling the Pretender.  "I promise you when we find him, we'll make him pay."

Out of everybody, aside from maybe Willow, Angel seemed to be trusting Jarod the most.  Sydney was Angel's friend for a long time.  Since Angel could see that Sydney was obviously a friend of the Pretender, he was beginning to extend that same trust toward Jarod.

----

**Sunnydale City Hall**

In City Hall, the Mayor had spent all night directing his subordinates to try and find the Invisible Man.  Mr. Trick had come close to getting him but the thief had again slipped away.

Richard Wilkins was regretting the fact that he canceled his weekly racquetball match since nothing substantial had been accomplished.  That is until he received a surprising phone call.

"Stiletto?"  The Mayor was laughing in his candle lit office.  "Oh no I'm not laughing at you.  That really is a striking name.  It's mysterious yet dangerous.  So you're the one I have to thank for the blackout, huh?    And I just kept telling the City Council something like this would happen if they didn't approve the funds to upgrade our computer security.  You know it's funny you called.  I *can* help you but there's something I want.  You see there's a guy named Darien Fawkes…yes that other man who arrived with Jarod.  He's seen something, something he shouldn't have that could be very incriminating if the moron puts two and two together.  If he tells the Slayer it could be a disastrous.  Take him out and you can name your price.  No don't worry.  We'll make him and Jarod come to you."

The door to Wilkins office flung open. Two vampires brought in Oz and Cordelia and forced them into chairs.

"See we have something they can't ignore.  A trump card you could say."

----

Miss Parker had spent the last hour in Sydney's room.  The doctor was unconscious and resting in a hospital bed.  She had just been sitting there watching him for a while now.

After she and Jarod went at it most of the others figured it would be wise to leave her alone for the time being.

"Hi.  You okay?"  Most, but not everybody, and one of the people who did want to talk to her was Buffy.

"I've been better."

Buffy slowly walked over to where Miss Parker was sitting.  "We were wondering about Sydney."

Miss Parker looked at her.  "There's still no change."  

"You know I saw the way you reacted when you heard.  He's important to you, isn't he?"

Now normally the older woman would've just made a rude comment but with everything that had happened, watching her friend fight for life, she just didn't feel like it.  "Sydney is like a second father to me.  He came here because of Jarod, that's why he's like this."

Buffy ignored the potshot at Jarod. Deciding instead to ask Miss Parker point blank.  "Why are you doing this to Jarod?  Why are you hunting him?"

"Jarod belongs in the Centre."

"He doesn't belong anywhere!  That should be his choice!"  Buffy was starting to see that Jarod was different than what she first assumed.  Much like herself, he was being hunted.  It wasn't because something he did to somebody, it was because of who he was.  And Jarod, like herself, had no choice in the matter.  Buffy had never wanted to become a Slayer, Jarod never wanted to become a Pretender.  Because Buffy never really had the option, she seethed every time somebody else wouldn't be able to choose his or her own destiny.  And the Slayer wouldn't just let Miss Parker come in here and take that option away from Jarod.

"Well it isn't.  Now are you done lecturing me little girl?"  Miss Parker was getting annoyed with this upstart young kid.  At the same time, she almost admired the fact that she didn't appear to take crap from anybody.

Then Miss Parker realized, Buffy was acting like Jarod did.  Trying to push her buttons to get her angry.

"Wow Jarod was right about you.  You are an open book. Okay a really scary one but still."

Miss Parker smiled for the first time since she arrived in Sunnydale.  "What?  Everyone else is too intimidated so they sent you in?"

"Well you didn't exactly make a good first impression."

 "I'm not here to make friends."

"Miss Parker if you're here because you're worried about Sydney that's fine.  But if you try to do something to Jarod…" Buffy returned the same evil grin at the other woman and a hint of confidence in her voice.  "…I'll stop you."

That got a laugh from Miss Parker.  Not only was Buffy almost a foot shorter than her but Miss Parker figured she'd run as soon as Buffy saw the gun she was carrying.  So of course she couldn't help but ask.  "What are you going to do?  Get your boyfriend back there to beat me up?"  

Wow somebody in town who actually hasn't heard of me.   "Ever heard of a Slayer Miss Parker?"

The older raised an eyebrow.  "The band?"

Oh yeah she has *no* idea.  This is gonna be good.   "You think I'm harmless?  Appearances can be deceiving."

Buffy walked out of the room, leaving Miss Parker to wonder about that cryptic statement.

----

It was close to 2 a.m.  Everyone at the hospital had pretty much called dibs on the coffeemaker in the lobby as every last one of them looked really to collapse.  

Jarod was currently in the lead with seven cups of coffee.  Xander and Broots weren't far behind with six.

Between Sydney's condition and the still unknown whereabouts of Darien, Cordelia and Oz they all had a lot to worry about.

When Jarod's phone rang, he was hoping it was one of the three lost people.  "Hello?"

"Well hello Jarod."

The voice was a complete stranger to Jarod.   "Who is this?"  
"Well, I guess you say this is the man who's been hunting you for the last two days."  
"Stiletto."  Jarod growled.  

After hearing that, just about everyone crowded around Jarod to try and listen in on the conversation.

"Very good.  Lyle told me you were quick on the uptake.  You know Jarod you are one very lucky man.  The old timer that got shot…"

The Pretender interrupted him.  "Why did shoot him you son of a bitch?"

"Well actually I was aiming for you.  It's just that Sydney pushed you out of the way.  Now I'm sick of having to track you down so this is going to end tonight.  I have something you might find interesting."

"You mean the power grid failing?"

Stiletto laughed.  "Among other things."

A few seconds later somebody else was the line talking with Jarod.

"Jarod?"

"Oz?  Oz are you okay?"

"Jarod listen!  This guy it's…"

"Oz?  Oz?"

Stiletto went back on the line before Oz could finish.  "Well as you are now aware I have Oz and that cheerleader bitch with me as well.  There's an old warehouse at the dock.  Building number six.  Be there in thirty minutes or two of your new found friends die."

"How do I know you won't just kill all of us?"

"You don't.  But I do know if you don't show up, you'll find them floating in the harbor tomorrow morning.  Come alone or bring your new friends at the hospital with you if you have a death wish for them it doesn't matter to me.  Goodbye."

Jarod slowly brought the phone down not saying a word.

"Well?  Where's Oz?"  Willow asked.  The redhead had tears coming down her cheeks.

"Stiletto has him and Cordelia."  Jarod finally got out.  "If I don't show up at the docks in…" He looked at his watch.  "…twenty-eight minutes he'll kill them both."

"So when do we leave?"  Buffy said.

But Jarod wasn't about to go with Buffy's line of thought.  "No!  I can't ask you to do that!"

"You don't have to."  Angel got up and stood behind Buffy.  Giles did the same.  "We're coming whether you like it or not."

"So am I."  Hobbes said.  "You guys are my best chance to find Fawkes.  Besides, I think this is what Fawkes woulda done if he were here."

"So the four of you are coming?"  Jarod asked.

"Five!"  Willow yelled out.

"No!"  Buffy responded worrying about her friend. 

"Buffy this is Oz we're talking about!"

"Will listen to me!   We are probably walking into a trap.  You nearly got killed tonight!  I'm not asking you I'm begging you please stay here!"

Xander walked over to Willow and put his hand on her shoulder.  "Willow I think she's right."  He then walked back to his seat.

Willow just about lost it and fell into Buffy's arms sobbing.  "Please…just find him."

"I promise."  Buffy told her.  "We'll get Oz and Cordelia back I swear."

While this was going on, Claire had called over Hobbes and Jarod.  She pulled a small metal case out and opened it to reveal a shot of counteragent.  "If you find Darien, he needs an injection of this to cure his condition but be careful.  Quicksilver Madness causes his minds' ethical arguments to break down so in his psychotic state he'll be very dangerous."

"Don't worry Keep I'll find him."  Hobbes said.

"So is everyone ready?"  Jarod asked.

Suddenly, the sound of a gun being pulled could be near him.

Miss Parker was standing behind him with her sidearm pointing directly at Jarod about three feet away from his chest.

I'd figured she'd try this sooner or later. "Miss Parker we don't have time for this."

"You're right we don't.  I told you you're not leaving this hospital.  I'm getting you and Sydney and we are getting the hell out of this god-forsaken town."

"I can't do that.  Two people are going to die if I don't do something."

"That's not my problem."

"What would your mother do if she were here?"

Miss Parker uncocked her gun.  Everyone couldn't tell if she was going to shoot Jarod or break down and cry from what he just said.  "Don't you dare talk about my mother Jarod!"

Over twenty years ago, Miss Parker's mother had been shot in an elevator.  She later learned her mother was going to attempt to rescue Jarod, herself and several of the other young children in the Centre who were being groomed to become Pretenders.  Her murder left several unanswered questions that were only being slowly uncovered over the last two years by her daughter.  

When Jarod drew the obvious similarities to this situation, he was trying to get Miss Parker to back away or in the best case scenario try to help them.

But it appeared to be a stalemate.  Jarod wouldn't go with Miss Parker but she wouldn't let him leave.

Hobbes, using his one good hand, pocketed the syringe Claire gave him and slowly reached inside his jacket for his gun.  This could get ugly.   He thought to himself.

Then in what seemed like the blink of an eye, Buffy's arm came up and pulled the gun out of Miss Parker's hand.  The older woman blinked a few times, trying to figure out what had just happened.

Buffy handed the gun to Jarod.  Then she got right in Miss Parker's face and told her, "We are going to deal with Stiletto.  You can either help us or stay out of our way."

She turned around and joined Jarod, Angel, Giles and Hobbes and walked out of the hospital.

Normally Miss Parker would be livid but much Broots' surprise, his boss just smiled a little and let out a soft laugh.

"What's so funny?"  Broots asked.

She shook her head.  "I like that girl."

"Huh?"

"It's just…she reminds of myself at that age.  She doesn't take shit from anybody."  

"Okkkaayy…so what do we do now?"

Miss Parker looked at her subordinate, her composure becoming more serious.  "Broots stay here.  Makes sure nothing happens to Sydney."

"W-where're you going?"

"To find the bastard that shot him."

Miss Parker ran after Jarod and the others.  That left Broots with Willow, Xander and the Keeper in the lobby and a nagging feeling that as long as he was in this town he was in over his head.

Nobody said anything for a while.  Broots and Willow stayed silent while Claire was treating Xander.

"We can't just stay here!  Oz and Cordelia are in trouble and we're doing nothing!" Willow suddenly yelled out which was unusual for her.

"This might not be any of my business but I have to agree with your friend.  You two are in pretty bad shape."  Claire told her while applying disinfectant to the wound on Xander's head.

The redhead grudgingly admitted Claire had a point.  That still didn't suit Willow and she just sulked in a chair.

Broots had been watching this play out.  After Willow finished an idea sprung into his head.  He introduced himself to these people.  "Uh…Hi!  I'm Broots"

"Hey.  I'm Xander.  That's Willow and this is…um…" He tried but he couldn't remember the Keeper's name.

Claire smiled and shook Broots' hand.  "I'm Doctor Claire Keeply."

"Okay.  Hey Willow?  Jarod said earlier this guy Stiletto hacked into the power grid, right?"

"Yeah that's right."

Broots pulled out his laptop and held it up.  "Yeah m-maybe there is something we can do."

Willow's eyes lit up as she realized what Broots meant.  This was right up her alley.

"Doctor Keeply?  Is there someplace we can set this up?"  Willow asked.

"Please Willow its just Claire.  How about Doctor Greene's room?"

"Yeah that'll be great."  Broots said.

The two hackers walked up to Sydney's room enthusiastically talking about how to break into the power grid with Xander and Claire close behind.

----

Sitting at one of the chairs in the waiting room was a man who seemed unusually calm with all the problems happening tonight.  

If Hobbes still had his thermal goggles on, he would've seen the man had no body temperature.  

He pulled out a cell phone after Willow, Xander, Broots and Claire walked away and casually said.  "Jarod and most of the others just left the hospital."

"What about Fawkes?"

"He wasn't with them."

"Well that's…disappointing.  I guess we'll deal with him later.  Listen there's been a change in the plan.  Once you're sure they're gone, kill the old man and anybody with him…"

----

"…our friend should take care of Jarod and the others."

Trick turned off his cell phone and smiled.  As he opened his car door and climbed in somebody slammed the door into him.  The vampire fell to the ground and his head was crushed into the door.  The blow would've killed any normal person.

"Hello Trick."

"Darien."  The vampire spat out in disgust.  

He couldn't see Darien as he was invisible.

"You remembered!  I'm touched."  Darien slammed his head in the car door a second time and Trick screamed in pain.  

The Quicksilver fell off him and what little light being given off by the overhead compartment light in the car showed a very sadistic man with blood red eyes.  "Now I'm only gonna ask this once.  Where Is He?"

----

It was obvious what warehouse Jarod was told to go to because it was the only one with the lights still on, albeit they were very dim.  

He assumed the warehouse had it's own backup power supply.

The group went over to the front entrance but the massive sliding door had a lock on it.

"It looks like he doesn't want us coming in through this way."  Giles observed.

Hobbes seemed ready to take charge of the situation.  "Okay here's what we'll do.  Jarod and Giles'll go around the left side for another entrance.  Angel and Buffy can check the other way.  Me and Legs here…" Miss Parker rolled her eyes.  "…will stay here to try and pick the lock."

Buffy casually reached out, grabbed the lock and in one quick movement ripped it off the wooden door.

"Or…uh…yeah that'll work."

The door slid open and they all entered into a large, empty room that covered almost two-thirds of the warehouse. It was just a huge open room, with only a catwalk surrounding the walls.

"This place is huge."  Giles observed.

"Yeah and there's one hell of an echo in here.  Looks like our boy doesn't want us to know where he is."  Hobbes added.

Sure enough a voice could be hear yelling.  "Drop your guns!"

Jarod and Hobbes instantly pointed their weapons and scanned for Stiletto.

"I know what you're thinking Jarod.  But I'll probably be able to kill the teenagers and some of you before you figure out where I am.  Now Drop Your Guns."

After thinking about it, Jarod looked at Bobby and nodded.  They both dropped their weapons and kicked them away.

Giles, much to the outsider's expectations, looked incredibly angry.  "You bloody bastard."

Buffy also had a vicious scowl on her face.  Angel looked the same way.

"Um Giles you know this guy?"  Hobbes asked.

"He should.  We're old friends."  Stiletto said.  "Isn't that right Ripper?"

----

TBC

"Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love... the clarity of hatred... and the ecstasy of grief."   
-Angelus

Next ch. - People's lives hang in the balance as Jarod, Buffy, Giles, Angel, Hobbes, and Miss Parker desperately try to stop a killer once and for all. 


	7. Plans in motion Part 3 The Lion's Den

Hopefully this next section will upload more smoothly than the last one.  Here's the big fight scene.  Next chapter we wrap everything up. 

**Plans in Motion 3/3 – The Lion's Den**

----

"Ethan I knew you were a despicable person but I thought you were above being a cold-blooded killer."

"Oh come now Rupert."  Ethan emerged from a shadow on the catwalk above them.  "How do you think I make the money to have all the fun I do in Sunnydale?"

Hobbes tried asking a second time.  "Uh again you know this guy?"

"His name is Ethan Rayne.  I knew him when I was younger."

"Raines?"  Miss Parker had an incredulous look.  "This guy's related to Raines?  That decrepit monster told me he wasn't involved!"

"I should've known it was you."  Giles ignored Miss Parker and kept talking to his old acquaintance.  "That book Jarod found.  You must've smuggled it out during our encounter with Eighon."

"Very good Ripper.  I have gotten a little better since at summoning since our heyday."  He pointed down, directly underneath Ethan was a large symbol drawn into the floor.  "And Miss Parker my name is spelled with a y not an i like Mr. Raines."  Ethan then turned his attention to Jarod.  "You're a hard man to kill Jarod.  Now I know why Lyle hired me."

"You don't really think Lyle will uphold his end of the deal?"  
"Oh he will Jarod.  You see Lyle is paying me two million dollars for this."

"So you're just doing this for money."  The Pretender looked disgusted.

"No I'm doing it for quite a bit of money.  I almost wish there were some other casus belli but no the money is enough."

"You won't get it. When I get back to the Centre I'll make sure my father sends a dozen sweepers after you."

"Well that's a shame Miss Parker.  I was going to let you go but I guess I'll be forced to tell your father and brother about your horrible accident in Sunnydale."

"On top of all the other people you already killed?"

"What can I say Jarod?  Life's not fair.  You of all people should know that."

Noises could be heard from the perimeter of the warehouse.  Eight vampires, on loan from Mayor Wilkins, were slowly surrounding the Whitehats.

Another one appeared next to Ethan on the catwalk.  "This better work."

"Will you stop moaning?  Just stick to the plan."

"Easy for you to say.  You're not fighting the Slayer and her backup."

"No but I'm doing my part."

Ethan pulled out a page ripped from the book he stole.  He recited the spell, causing the symbol to glow.  Then a Grappler demon appeared in the center of it.

Miss Parker rubbed her eyes.  She was the only one in the group who hadn't seen the supernatural phenomena in Sunnydale yet.

"What the hell is that?"

Jarod gave her that annoying, sarcastic grin.  "Why Miss Parker haven't you ever heard of a demon?"

"No way.  That has to be some kind of trick."

"Fraid not.  That line about Sunnydale being a God-forsaken town was a lot more on target than you realized."

She slowly shook her head.  "I hate this town."

"Join the club."  Buffy told her.

"Uh Buffy that is a Grappler Demon.  They are *extremely* strong so be careful."  Giles told her.

The Grappler rushed at Buffy only to be met by a roundhouse kick to the face.  Soon after the vampires came at them from all sides.

----

Cordelia and Oz were bound and gagged on the catwalk.  Both of them were still struggling when Ethan came over.  "Oh stop.  You won't get free.  Amazing about your friends down there.  They won't know what hit them until it's too late.

From behind Ethan somebody said.  "You got that right."

"What the…" He turned around only to get hit with a right cross.  The killer got back up and looked in front of him but nobody was there.  

He warily got back up only to be knocked down again.  This time Ethan didn't wait.  He pulled his gun out and started firing wildly in front of him.  

Since Ethan seemed preoccupied, Oz wiggled around until he was back to back with Cordelia and started working on untying her hands.

After a few seconds Ethan stopped, figuring whoever attacked him was dead.

This is until Darien appeared right in front of him.  He was so close some of the Quicksilver that fell of Darien landed on Ethan.

"You missed."

The Invisible Man kicked Ethan in the face and blood started pouring out of the killer's mouth.

Darien pulled him up, bringing Ethan into full view of Darien's blood red eyes.  "Hey asshole.  Remember me?"

----

**Sunnydale Hospital**

"Xander will you stop pacing?  You're going to make a ditch in the floor!"

Everyone who hadn't gone to the warehouse had relocated in Sydney's hospital room.

Broots and Willow had the idea that they could fix whatever damage Stiletto had done when he hacked into the power grid and thus restore electricity to the town.  

They were feverishly working on doing just that.  Xander, not being a computer genius like the other two, just kept busy doing whatever he could think of.  

Claire was much claimer, and finally told the young man point blank to claim down.

Xander finally stopped and looked at her.  "Sorry.  Its just…well today's been very strange."

That got a look from the Keeper.  "This is strange?  Compared to the weird stuff that happens here all the time?"

"Actually this pretty out there.  Even for Sunnydale."  Xander looked at Broots.  "So what exactly are you guys trying to do?"

Broots looked up from the table in the room.  "Well uh…we figure when Stiletto hacked into the network he locked everyone out of the system.  If we can find a way to get in ourselves we can 

"Okaaay.  Somebody want to explain that in English."

Willow took pity on her old friend.  "If the lockout can be overridden the system will reboot."

"Oh."

"Well if you all are doing alright in here I should go check on some of the other patients."  Claire said.  "I also need to check in at the Agency but my phone's dead."

Broots fumbled through his pockets.  "Oh uh…let's see…" He pulled out a pen and the lighter Miss Parker gave him earlier.  He dropped those on the table then pulled out his cell phone.  "Here."

"Thank you."  She left the room leaving the three of them alone.

----

The vampire that phoned Trick from the lobby waited outside Sydney's room.  

Once Claire disappeared down the hall it made its move.  Nobody noticed at first when he appeared in the doorway to Sydney's room with his vampiric face on

It wasn't until Broots looked up that somebody did see him.

"AHHHHHH!"  Broots jumped twenty feet in shock, looking incredibly scared.   

The vampire wasted no time.  He threw Willow into Xander and he crashed into the table knocking most of the items on it to the floor.   

The vampire looked at Xander then smirked, taking out time to pull the boy up and get another shot to the head in.  

It pulled away the long strands of hair in front of his face to show him a long red mark across his face.  "Think it was funny when you did that to me earlier ya brat?"  

Xander quickly realized this was the surviving vampire from their fight with Trick.  The same one he smashed in the head with a lead pipe.  

Man this is gonna suck… Was all Xander thought before his opponent slammed his head into the floor and Xander's world went spinning.

With that small amount of revenge out of the way, the vampire looked to finish Trick's assignment.  But it also had heard the entire conversion his four opponents had made and figured Broots' hacking attempt had to be stopped.  So the monster came up with the most logical solution for a soulless monster, kill Broots. 

It grabbed the man and pinned him against the small medical table in the corner while slowly beating the life out of him.

Broots desperately reached for anything to help him.  By sheer coincidence he grabbed one of the tongue depressors on the table and tried stabbing his opponent to no avail.  When that didn't work he used his arm to sweep all of the items on the table into the vampire's face.  Alcohol bottles and other items flew into the vampire's face and he put his hands to eyes to stop the burning.  

With all the noise coming from the room, Claire had come back to see what was going on.  

Oh God not again.   When she saw the vampire, she grabbed one of the hospital's large metal fire extinguishers and slammed the butt of it into the blind vampire's face.

Their opponent stumbled back a few steps next to where Xander was on the floor.  "I'll kill all of you!"

Xander reached for Miss Parker's lighter and lit the vampire's jeans on fire.  "Blah blah blah!"

The vampire went up like kindling, thanks to his clothes being soaked with alcohol.  He wildly flailed around his arms in an attempt to put himself out before turning to ash.

"W-wha…what the hell was that?" Broots still looked shell-shocked.  

Xander just smiled.  "That Broots was a vampire."  

----

Darien slammed Ethan's face against the metal guardrail while the fighting was raging on below them.   "I wonder if that's how it felt?  You know, when you killed her.  My cousin Dana, that cop in the apartment complex.  When you blew her apart with a bomb."   He picked him up and slammed him a second time.  "Now trust me this is gonna hurt me just as much as…oh who am I kidding?  This is gonna hurt you a hell of a lot more!"****

----

Sheer chaos reigned on the ground below.  Buffy was trying to hold off the Grappler leaving the others to deal with the vampires.   The Grappler demon was just as strong as Giles indicated and she soon learned fighting it with no weapon was not a good idea.  Buffy quickly found a solid steel bar on the ground and was using it as a quarterstaff. 

Jarod was flanking Buffy's blind side to keep the vampires from attacker her from behind.  He used his combat training from several Pretends in a defensive fighting technique to keep attackers away and push back.

Miss Parker was to doing her best to help Jarod fight these things but was beginning to wish she didn't wear high heels.  She was also constantly scanning the warehouse looking for her gun.

Angel was trying to hold off as many of the vampires as possible.  His formidable vampiric skills were much stronger than most of these fledglings as the two piles of dust near his feet would indicate.  He managed to fight three of them and whoever ones Jarod was pushing into him.

Giles and Hobbes were left to themselves about fifty feet away from the main group.  Both of them were very efficient fighters but they both were having trouble.  Giles was having trouble being all by himself against a stronger opponent. Hobbes had never fought a vampire before and that was not even taking his injured hand into account.  

Eventually the two previously mentioned fighters managed to link up out of desperation since the two vampires they were fighting had a sizable advantage against them.

For Bobby Hobbes, When you work for the Agency, you have to keep an open mind, but this entire fiasco on Sunnydale was bordering on insane even for him.  He definitely felt like he needed more meds.  At the moment though he was currently fighting for life.

"Here."

Hobbes caught the stake Giles had tossed to him.  "What the hell am I supposed to with this?  Whittle?"

Giles continued to explain when fighting.  "I know this will come as a shock but these are vampires Mister Hobbes.  The only way to kill them to drive a wooden stake through their heart."

Sure why not.   Hobbes half-jokingly thought to himself. I mean I deal with Invisible people and women who turn into water every day.  How's this any stranger than…wait a sec…  "These guys ain't alive?"

"Precisely."

Hobbes quickly tripped up his foe and disappeared from Giles' sight.  

"Mister Hobbes?"  

A gunshot rang out a minute later and one of the vampires went cross-eyed and held his groan in pain before tipping over.  Giles quickly staked his other opponent before finishing the wounded one off.  

A grinning Hobbes walked over holding his gun up to Giles.  "This works too."  

He scanned the rest of the fight noticing Buffy fighting the Grappler one on one.  Hobbes didn't know what was stranger:  That a waif of a girl was fighting this giant thing or that she holding her own.

Girl's been eating her Wheaties.    "Hey kid!  Duck!"

Buffy managed to turn around for a split second.  It was just long enough to see Hobbes pointing a gun in her direction.  Oh boy…

She dropped to the floor and Bobby fired.  He emptied nearly half a clip into the Demon before it finally stopped struggling and fell.

"That was rather crude."

Hobbes smirked at the Watcher.  "Yeah but it works."

Buffy chuckled until she heard a noise coming from the pentagram.  She looked to her side to see another Grappler standing there.  The slayer did a double take at the one demon corpse next to her and the unexpected new demon.

"Uh guys?"

Bobby had a confused look too.  "Didn't we just kill that thing?"

Giles had an idea what was going on.  "It has to be Ethan.  That spell he used must summon another demon every time we kill one."

Hobbes groaned.  "Sadistic bastard ain't he?"   

You have no idea.   Giles thought to himself.

----

On the catwalk, Oz had finally gotten Cordelia's hands untied.  The first thing she did was pull the gag out of her mouth and yell, "Giles!"

----

"Up there look!"  Giles pointed toward the catwalk to Ethan getting pummeled by Darien.

Hobbes and Angel both looked over.  "He'll kill him."

Angel realized Hobbes was right.  In Darien's state he'd do it without thinking twice.  

And as much as Angel would love to do the same, they didn't kill humans.

"Ah shit.  Darien!"  Angel tried to get the Invisible Man's to no avail.  He quickly got up to the catwalk faster than any of the others could have while Giles and Hobbes tried to deal with the leftover vampires.  

Angel grabbed Darien and slammed him against the wall just before the he was about to kick Ethan in the gut.

"Think about what you're doing Darien."

Darien shut eyes for a second, as if he was having a splitting migraine.  "I know exactly what I'm doing.  Get out of my way!"

"No you don't!  Just calm down for a second!"

"Make me!"  He head butted Angel, causing the vampire to let go of him.  But just as soon as he got free Angel had grabbed hold of him again.  

Darien went invisible and attacked Angel.  Since Angel couldn't see him, he kept staggering backward after every hit.

Get Darien to stop trying to kill Ethan by getting him to kill you…Real smart Angel 

----

Cordelia managed to untie the ropes keeping her legs tied.  She promptly kicked Ethan in the gut with the pointed end of her high heels.  Ethan rolled around in pain again while a small paper fell out of the breast pocket of his shirt.  

The cheerleader looked at it and from the old writings on it assumed it had to be from the stolen book.  "Giles!"

She dropped the paper over the edge and it fell next to the Watcher.  He picked it up and instantly knew what is for.  This is the spell Ethan just used. 

Giles ran over to the symbol and started reciting from the page.  After he finished reading, the pentagram went up flames turning it into ashes.

----

Angel's attempt to stop Darien had given Ethan a chance to recover from the beating he had just taken.  

He wiped away the blood from his mouth as a scowl formed on his face.  You'll pay for that Fawkes.  Just a few more minutes and they'll be wiping you and your pals off the wall with a sponge. 

----

Jarod had gotten a glimpse of Ethan at free moments when he wasn't fighting off vampires.  Something's not right.  He's still acting like he's going to win even though we beating him… 

----

The Invisible Man knocked Angel into one of the interior rooms of the warehouse while he taunted him.  "You know I never liked you Angel.  That whole 'Oh poor me I'm a brooding vampire with a soul!' Act gets pretty thin after a few hours.    

Darien was just toying with Angel at this point.  After Darien jabbed him again, the vampire tried throwing several punches in a wide arc.  They all missed and Darien effortlessly threw him into a stack of boxes near the door they just came through.

"Too bad, huh Deadboy?  It must suck when you can't see the guy you're fighting."

Angel looked over on the wall and hit the light switch near him then slammed the door shut.  With no widows, being an interior area, or other light source the entire room went black.

"Yeah?"  Angel voice had a nasty tone to it. "Now you can't see me either."

----

**Sunnydale Hospital**

"Is everyone alright?"  Claire asked.

"Yeah.  I think so…the laptop!"  Willow yelled.  She dashed to where the computer had been knocked over.  After making sure it wasn't broken, she starting rapidly typing.

All their efforts the four of them made earlier were rewarded when the lights came back on.  The power was restored.

Shortly after, Sydney started making grunting noises from the bed.

Claire ran over and shined her penlight in his eyes to get some type of response.  "Doctor Greene? Doctor Greene can you hear me?"

"Sydney?" Broots was behind the Keeper.

"Broots."  The older man answered his young friend.  

"Yeah?"

"How is someone supposed to rest with all this…racket going on?"

Sydney gave a weak smile.  Broots, for the first time in hours, smiled back and started laughing.

----

Back at the warehouse, several of the remaining vampires had congregated into one large group while the Buffy and the others were busy dealing with Ethan.  

"This is bullshit!  I didn't sign up to be Angelus' punching bag.  I'm outta here!"

"Get back here!  Wilkins is gonna have your head if you run Davis!"

"He'll believe what we tell him!  Or do you wanna get dusted?"  The vampire turned tail and ran.  Most of them followed him out.

----

Buffy was working on finishing off the last Grappler Demon.  She was feeling exhausted after fighting two of these things.  Giles was right.  These things are *way* too powerful.  

The brainless monster finally made a mistake and Buffy, using all of her strength, shoved the metal quarterstaff she was using through the Grappler Demon's chest.

The impaled demon took a few steps back before falling backwards over a couple of boxes.

Buffy looked one of the boxes.  There was something underneath it.  It only took a second to realize it was another of Ethan's bombs.

"JAROD!"

----

"JAROD!"

Buffy's nervous scream got the man's attention and he rushed over.  "What is it?"  Then he noticed the bomb.  Oh no…

"Can you disarm it?"  She asked.

He nodded.  "I think so.  Just keep them off my back."

"Got it."

Jarod kneeled down and began the meticulous job of deactivating an explosive device without blowing them all to hell.

Miss Parker came running over shortly after Jarod had met up with Buffy.  The Pretender noticed she had found her gun.  "If you're going to shoot me, do after I finish this."

"Finish what?"  Miss Parker asked.  Then she saw just what Jarod was working on.  "Oh give me a break!  What is this guy a pyromaniac?"

"It almost makes me appreciate the lackluster job you do trying to catch me."

Jarod just smiled as Miss Parker scowled.  
----

Just then an airborne body, Darien's to be specific, went crashing through the door on the catwalk and the Invisible Man slammed into the floor on the main level.  

Even though Giles surmised that would've hurt, Darien was still trying to get up.  The watcher ran over and held him down.  "Mister Hobbes!"

Hobbes saw Giles struggled to hold the young man down.  He got over to them as quickly as he could.  Hobbes pulled out the counteragent shot with his good hand and bit off the plastic guard.  

"Hate to do this to ya partner."  Was all the man said as he jabbed the needle into Darien's leg and depressed the plunger.

Darien screamed in pain while Hobbes and Giles tried to hold him down.  After a minute or so Darien stopped struggling and his body went limp.  His eyes went back to normal indicating he was no longer suffering from Quicksilver Madness.

----

Sweat was pouring down Jarod's face as he worked on the bomb's wiring.  

"I hope this works…"

After taking the necessary steps, he finally cut a wire and the timer turned off.

Jarod and Miss Parker both let out a sigh of relief.  Then the lights turned back on.

Miss Parker looked up.  "Thank you Broots.  So now what?"

"Now we end this."  Was all Jarod said.

One of the stray vampires in the warehouse, one that didn't have the common sense to run away once the fight went sour, rushed at Jarod.  The Pretender was ready for him and when the vampire threw a punch Jarod caught his arm and judo-flipped his still running opponent to the floor.

----

Ethan grunted in pain as he got back up.  

He noticed Jarod's group was beginning to overcome his little trap.  But this time he saw an opening.  

Giles, Hobbes and Darien were less than twenty feet away from him on the ground.  Best of all, they were so focused on Darien that he could fire off a few shots before they even noticed.  At least if Jarod survived, he could fulfill his agreement with Wilkins and kill Darien Fawkes.

He slowly climbed down a ladder attached to the wall.  Making a point to be quiet as he approached them, when Ethan got close enough he leveled his gun just as another shot rang out.

A bullet caught him in the left shoulder, spinning him around before he grabbed it in pain.  

Miss Parker was to Ethan's right, smoking gun in hand.

Ethan slowly started to stumble backwards then ran into another room with Miss Parker close behind.

The room was filled with boilers and pipes.  There wasn't much room for maneuvering as all of the equipment in the room only allowed small corridors.  One stray shot could cause severe damage.

Ethan quickly made his way down one of the corridors.

Miss Parker was searching through the walkways for the killer.  She finally spotted him at the far end of one of the corridors.  

"ETHAN!"  

The man in question quickly turned around and pointed his gun after hearing Miss Parker's yell.  She fired but missed.  Ethan kept firing wildly like he had done with Darien earlier not caring about the ramifications.  He missed her as well but one of the shots struck a pipe near her causing it rupture open.

Steam from the pipe shot into Miss Parker's eyes blinding her.  She fell with her head hitting the concrete floor hard.

----

Jarod's fight ended almost abruptly as it began.  The vampire rushed him and Jarod sidestepped it while plunging a stake into his passing opponent.

The fight was pretty much over.  The other vampires ran that were still alive had ran off.

He looked around the room, everyone was accounted for expect one person.  

"Where's Miss Parker?"  
"She followed Ethan into that other room."  Giles yelled.

Jarod rushed into the room after her.  He kept his head low and swept through the room looking for her.

He found Miss Parker in one of the corridors not moving.  Jarod rushed over in such obvious concern he didn't see that Ethan was only seven feet away with his gun pointed at Jarod.  Stiletto's face didn't even flinched for the few seconds he stared his prey.  

The Pretender looked up and found himself staring down the gun of a killer.

Since Jarod didn't have time to check on her, the only thing that went through his mind was that Ethan had just killed Miss Parker.

Ethan decided this was it and pulled the trigger.

*click*

He squeezed it again only to hear the same clicking sound.  Ethan looked down realizing he was out of ammunition.

"Bloody hell."

Jarod didn't waste time.  He ran and threw a hard punch to Ethan's face then buried his other fist into the bullet wound on Ethan's shoulder.  

Ethan cried in pain as Jarod continued attacking him.  

This man had caused so much pain and suffering to the people Jarod cared about.

A man who had killed several innocent people in his attempt.

A man who had hunted Jarod worse than any other person since he escaped from the Centre.

The Pretender just kept punching him in a rage, his emotions were taking over at this point.  

Buffy had found them by now.  After seeing Jarod beating on Ethan, she closed her eyes and looked away.

The pain was too much for the killer and Ethan slowly fell to the floor unconscious.

Jarod finally stopped when he heard Miss Parker made a noise.  Realizing she was still alive, he let go of Ethan and went over to tend to her.

----

Everyone in the warehouse waited for Ethan to wake up.  When the man in question did, he realized he was handcuffed to the chair he was sitting on.  

Everyone he had fought in the warehouse were in front of him with the exception of Miss Parker, who was still unconscious and lying on top of a long wooden crate a few feet away along with Jarod, who was watching over her.

"Hey Sleeping Beauty's up!"  Hobbes yelled.

Jarod, upon hearing this, walked over to confront the man who had destroyed so many lives in his attempt to hunt Jarod.  Only this time it was on the Pretender's terms.  "We wanted to wait until you were awake before we left."

Ethan didn't say anything.  Maybe he thought not answering Jarod was some last form of spite.  He just gave all of them a cold stare.

Jarod didn't seem to care and continued talking.  "While you were out we contacted of some of the people who aren't exactly fond of you.  Relatives and friends of those killed by Stiletto.  Guess what?  They're going to pay us a lot of money to kill you."

Jarod reached behind a crate and pulled out the bomb he disabled.  "So we decided the best way was with your own bomb.  Ironic don't you think?"

"You don't have the backbone to do it Jarod.  There's no way Buffy will let you."  
"Oh I don't know about that."  The Slayer replied.  "After all, how many more people would you kill if we let you live?  How many people are already suffering or dead because of you?  Let's see:  Oz and Cordelia."

The two friends Buffy just named said nothing.  They just stared at Ethan, their eyes burning a hole into his face.  
"My cousin and those cops in San Diego."  Darien added his own personal reason.

"Sydney." Angel had a reason too.

Both men were trying to hold back the anger in their voices when they said that

Ethan was beginning to believe all of them were serious.  "You can't do this!  Buffy you're a Slayer!  You don't kill humans!"

"You know for a fact I'm not like most Slayers.  I don't play by all the rules."  Buffy told him.

"Well there must be something I can give you.  

"Why?  You didn't give the people you killed a choice.  You didn't give the police officers in San Diego a choice.  Isn't that right?"

"ISN'T IT?"  Jarod tried again, yelling this time for emphasis. 

"Yes.  Yes alright I didn't give them a choice when I set the bomb in Mahogany.  Are you happy Jarod?  Now let me go I'm sure we can come to some kind of agreement."

"No.  Like you said before Ethan: Life's not fair."

Jarod crossed two wires on the bomb and the timer started again.  He then picked up Miss Parker and carried her out.  

"Rupert say something please!"

Giles slowly took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.  "I have nothing to say Ethan.  You've brought this on yourself."

The rest of them turned around and walked out of the warehouse.  Darien put his arm around Hobbes and limped away.  None of them said another word.

"Jarod you can't just leave me here!  Jarod?  Rupert?  JAROD!"   Ethan was being ignored by all of them.  Soon he was alone with the bomb still counting down.  

The killer desperately tried to free himself from his constraints but with a bullet lodged in his shoulder he didn't accomplish much.

Ethan continued to struggle until there was only a few seconds left.  There was sweat pouring down his face as he shut his eyes.  

The countdown finally went to zero.  Much to Ethan's surprise nothing happened.

He slowly opened his eyes to see the bomb just sitting there.  

And in the distance, he could hear rapidly approaching police sirens.

----

TBC

Author's note:  Sometime soon I'll throw up a revised version as the grammar in some previous chapters are god awful.


	8. Epilogue

**Ch. 8 – Epilogue**

Police cruisers swarmed the warehouse containing Ethan Rayne.  Jarod and most of the others watched from a block away.  

All of them were exhausted.  Several people were sitting on the curb watching Ethan get shoved into the back of a police car.

Hobbes sat down next to Darien.  His partner made a point to stay away from the others.  He looked pretty shaken up and just blankly stared ahead.  

"You okay partner?"

After a few Darien replied.  "Nah.  No I'm not.  I screwed up didn't I?"

"Hey Fawkes don't say that.  You kept that psycho busy long enough for us to stop him.  And you gave those two kids a chance to escape."

"Yeah well…I don't exactly feel like a hero."

Angel walked up behind him.  "Most of the time none of us do.  That's just how things are here."

Darien used his good leg to stand up and looked at the souled-vampire. "Hey Angel.  Listen about what happened in there…I…uh…I'm sorry."

"Don't be.  I'm the last person who should be throwing stones.  So does this mean you'll stop with the sarcastic ass attitude?"

The Invisible Man just laughed.  "Oh hell no! I still don't like you.  But you can fight on my team anytime."

Angel actually laughed with him.  "Well it's a start."

----

Buffy was tending to her friends some ways away.  "You guys ok?"

Oz nodded.  "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Same here."  Cordelia said.  "Though being tied up isn't exactly my idea of a fun time.  Where were you guys?  And where's Xander anyways?"

"We had a few…issues at the hospital.  He got pretty beat up and stayed behind."  Buffy replied.

"So it's over for Ethan, right?"  Oz asked.

Jarod nodded.  "Oh yeah.  With all the evidence I've got on him not even the Sunnydale P.D. can mess this up."

"What about her?"  Oz pointed at the still unconscious Miss Parker.

"I don't know.  I have this nagging feeling she going to try something again when she wakes up."

"Hey Jarod?"  Hobbes walked over with a nasty grin.  "Why don't you let me handle her?"

Jarod was curious.  "Really?  What did you have in mind?"

----

Some time later Miss Parker woke up and found herself sitting on a barstool with a smoking cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other.  She almost looked like a stoned prostitute if she hadn't been wearing a business suit.

She was still dazed and her head hurt as she groggily looked up and was face to face with the bartender.

Willy was drooling all over himself.  "Hey uh…this bald guy dropped you off and said you had a thing for short men.  What'd ya say you and me head back to my penthouse o' love?"

She grabbed Willy by the collar and brought him face to face with her.  "You listen to me.  You show much as lay a finger on me and they'll have to reattach it.  Got it?"

"Uh…uh sure!"  The bartender backed off.

She stumbled up and staggered toward the entrance.  Her head was still spinning from the blow she took at the warehouse.  Miss Parker had no doubt in her mind who had done this.  Jarod…and that midget Hobbes.  When I get my hands on either of them…   

One of the vampires at the bar got up, figuring he had an easy kill.  His friend pulled him back down before he could follow her.  "Trust me buddy.  Don't go after food that bites back.

From a corner booth, Hobbes snickered as he got the entire event on tape.

----

The rest of the group, minus Hobbes and Miss Parker, arrived back at the hospital shortly after Ethan was led away in handcuffs.  

As soon as they arrived the others met them in the lobby.  Willow ran into Oz's arms.  Likewise, Xander and Cordelia shared a slow, deep kiss then she asked about the bruises on his face.

Claire checked on Darien's and to the whereabouts of Hobbes.

Most of the others were content to simply pass out on a chair.  However, most didn't include Angel.  With everyone in the lobby, that let him go alone to check on an old friend.

Angel found Sydney alone in his room.  The older man couldn't sleep and looked pleased to see the vampire.  "Angel."

"Hey I…I wanted to see how you felt."

Sydney nodded.  "I should be fine.  Dr. Keeply says I'm pretty lucky the bullet didn't cause serious damage.  Things like this happen quite a bit here don't they?"

Angel chuckled.  "Believe me the last three years have been one roller coaster after another."

The psychiatrist looked intrigued.  "Mind sharing it with me?"

For a moment Angel was almost tempted to say no.  There would only be a few more hours until dawn.  But then he figured this was worth it.  Oh what the hell.  I'll just take the sewers home. 

He pulled up a chair and two friends began catching up on old time and going over the wonders of the last four years.

----

The next morning the Pretender and Invisible Man were in the halls of Sunnydale High School.  The latter was working on the lock to Principal Snyder's office.

"Now why am I helping you break into this schmuck's office?"

"I need to get in there to fix something I screwed up.  Are you sure you can do this?"

Darien fiddled with the lock a little more and the door swung open.  He looked up and gave Jarod a big shit-eating grin.  "Please!  I was a professional thief give me something that's challenging."

"Well in the future I'll keep that in mind.  Say where's your friends?  I figured they wouldn't let you out of their sight."

"Nah I only do one crazy thing a month.  They're waiting outside the high school for me."

"So this is it.  You're leaving?"  
"Yeah well this place makes the Agency seem normal.  I think I've got just enough energy left to go home and fall on my mattress."

"Well Darien if I'm ever in San Diego again I'll look you up."

They shook hands.  "Take care of yourself Jarod."

"You too."

----

Sometime later Snyder walked in.  He wasn't used to somebody sitting at his desk and when he saw Jarod he nearly lost it.  Jarod was furiously punching in commands on the computer. 

"Mr. Anderson?  What are you doing in my office?" 

The question was direct and to the point.  It had a tone that made you think the Principal was not pleased.

"You know Principal Snyder I love computers."  The angry man didn't even faze Jarod.  He just kept typing away while talking.  "They can tell you all sorts of things you'd want to know about someone.  How they act.  What their hobbies are.  Yours is interesting.  It talks about kickbacks and cover-ups of student deaths and all sorts of stuff that would get you some deep trouble if anybody found out it."

Snyder looked like a deer in the headlights just like Jarod knew he would.  "What the hell do you want?"

Jarod swiveled his chair around to directly face the other man and smiled.  "Well now that you mention it, what I want is very simple."

----

**The Agency**

"I was set to have you all transferred to a field office in Alaska for the next six months over this little fiasco.  Then this morning I found three commendations on my desk signed by the assistant director of the F.B.I. for your 'Indispensable aid in capturing one the world's most wanted felons.'"

The Official leaned forward in his chair, clutching the phone tighter.  "This should be one hell of a report you three give me."

"It will."  Claire replied on the other end.

"It better be!  Put Darien on the phone!"

----

Darien had just walked out of the high school.  Claire handed him the phone.  "He wants to talk to you."

Darien swallowed nervously.  "Uh…hey boss!  How's it hangin?"

"You listen to me Darien.  When you get back here you're coming into my office and you're not leaving until you tell me just how the hell you found out about Marcie Ross.  That was top secret information."

Great…  "Sure thing boss." Darien groaned and hung up.  

"Signed commendations about our work in Sunnydale.  Anyone else think Jarod had something to do with that?"  
Hobbes smiled.  "Well Keep let's just say that he and I came to a little agreement."

Claire was letting curiosity get the better of her.  "For what exactly?"  

"Services already rendered.  I show you when we get back."  On that note Hobbes brought up a good point.  "Say Keep what exactly are we supposed to say in this report?  I mean vampires?  Magic?  I sure as hell wouldn't believe it."

Darien agreed.  "Yeah Hobbes does have a point.  And who woulda figured this might've been the place they got the idea for the gland?  I mean the Official was one step away from admitting the Agency was the one who grabbed Marcie Ross."****

"PCP."  

"Come again Claire?"

"I read some of the police reports at the hospital.  They always wrote 'Killed by Gang Members on PCP' when a vampire attack occurred."

"Think that'll fly?"  
"Well we could always tell the Agency the truth?"

"No thanks."  Darien replied.  "I've been in a straight jacket once in my life already and that's more than enough for me."

"So."  Hobbes started.  "I guess you made a couple of new friends?" 

"Yeah Xander keeps talking about how he wants to go on a 'Journey of Discovery' so I gave him my number and address back in San Diego."

"The little bastard did remind me of you way too much.  Figures you two hit it off."

"Little?  Hobbes he's a lot taller than you."

The two of them started arguing until a taxi drove up to the curb.  Darien looked surprised.  "Where's the van?"

"Back at the Agency.  Yeah Mister-El-Cheapo actually got us plane tickets.  You should go AWOL more often."  His partner told him.

"I would advise against that Darien." Claire said.  "I overheard him telling Eberts he was taking the money out of your salary."

"Ah crap."  Was the Invisible Man said.

The others got in the cab while Darien took one last look at the high school.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm happy I'm leaving this town.  I mean there's a lot of bad stuff here: Killers... Demons...Angel.  It's a horrible place to visit and I sure as hell wouldn't wanna live here.  So with that in mind, I gotta respect the people who do live in this hellhole because if anything it shows the kinda determination these kids have.  

----

**The Centre**

Lyle was not pleased.  The Triumvirate had been demanding results all night and Stiletto hadn't checked in yet.  

He was currently hiding in his office.  When his phone rang he figured this was his assassin calling in.

"Stiletto please tell me you have good news."

"Oh I'm sorry Lyle.  Were you waiting for another call?"

Lyle felt the bile in his stomach beginning to rise.  "Jarod.  What the hell do you want?"

The Pretender was using his mocking, sarcastic voice.  "Oh I thought I'd be the one to tell you that your hired assassin Stiletto a.k.a. Ethan Rayne is in police custody.  Now Lyle this is the second time you've made this little problem between us personal."  Jarod's gloating was just the beginning.  When Lyle didn't respond, an angry Pretender told him.  "If you ever do something like this again I promise I'll make sure you never hurt anyone again."

Lyle snorted a laugh.  "Ooh tough words Jarod.  But I don't think you have what it takes to be a killer."

"Who said anything about killing?  Lyle you're so narrow-minded.  Oh one more thing I was snooping around last night and I found one of your hidden bank accounts.  A big one.  I figured since you started this problem you wouldn't mind if I donated the money to the families of the police officers who died in San Diego.  Have a nice day."

Lyle didn't move after Jarod hung up.  Then suddenly he threw the phone and most of the things on his desk.

----

**Sunnydale City Hall**

Mayor Wilkins walked around to the front of his desk and leaned on it taking into account the extremely worried vampire sitting in front of him.  "Really Davis I'm not upset about last night."

"You're not?"

"No, in fact I'm surprised by the kind of take charge attitude you showed. Let's just say I have a special reward for those who show initiative like you."

The vampire looked like a huge burden had just been lifted off his shoulders.  "I…uh…that's great.  Thank you sir."

The Mayor laughed.  "Excellent.  Now why don't you run along, find some of your buddies and celebrate."

The proud vampire walked out of the room leaving the Mayor alone.  

Wilkins walked back to desk and sat on his plush chair.  He pulled out a mini tape recorder from one of his drawer then pulled the record button.  "Note to self: Kill Davis."

He punched the intercom on his desk.  "Send in Trick."

The said vampire appeared shortly afterwards.  "You called?"

"I just got word that Darien Fawkes has left Sunnydale."

Trick growled.  He wanted nothing better than to rip the Invisible Man apart.

"Easy now big fella.  It's okay.  So that moron Rayne is in custody.  Good thing because after last night's screw up he would've been a dead man if he stayed in town one minute longer."

"What about the Ascension?"  Trick asked.  "If Fawkes told the Slayer…"

The Mayor interrupted him.  "No from what I can tell I'm pretty sure Darien didn't have a clue about what he saw."  

Wilkins was back in a cheery mood again and laughed.  "So everything's pretty much worked out.  All for the price of a couple of fledglings."

He got up from his desk, pulled out his racquetball racquet and took a few practice swings as he talked.  "The Slayer has no idea about my plans.  And the only person who could have isn't even in town anymore.   All in all I'd have to say I'm still doing great."

----

**Summer's Residence**

"So I can go back to school?"  Buffy looked relieved.

Jarod smiled.  "I convinced Principal Snyder to rescind your suspension."

"How?"

"I calmly explained it wouldn't be in his best interested."

Buffy arched an eyebrow.  "You mean you blackmailed him?"

"Please blackmail is such a harsh word."  Buffy just kept staring at him.  "Well if you put it that way…Buffy if you ever need my help don't hesitate to contact me."

They were both in the kitchen along with Buffy's mom.  Joyce was reading a paper that had 'Bomber in Custody' in the headline with Ethan's picture beneath it.  

She put down the paper and wanted to thank the man who helped her daughter.  "Jarod thank you for taking care of Buffy's suspension.  If you ever need anything…"

"Miss Summers that's alright.  It's me who should be thanking your daughter."

"Still.  You'll always be welcomed here."

"Thank you.  I appreciate it.  Joyce is it alright if I make a private call?"

"No problem."

Buffy looked over.  "Hey I wanna listen in!"

"Buffy."  The motherly gaze from Joyce indicated she should leave Jarod alone.

"Oh alright."  The two women walked out.  Jarod pulled out his cell phone and punched in the number.

"Hello?"  Came the voice of Jarod's protector on the other end.

"Sydney hi.  I wanted to talk to you before I left town."

"Jarod I will be alright.  You don't have to worry."

"I still do.  I can't get rid of the feeling that you being in the hospital is my fault."  
"Don't.  I'll tell you the same thing I told Angel.  We all make our own choices in life.  If anything a lot of people in Sunnydale owe you their lives."

"That reminds me.  Why didn't you tell me about this place?"  
Sydney paused for a long time.

"Sydney?"  
He finally came up with an answer.  "I wanted to protect you.  When you were at the Centre you had no idea about the outside world.  I made it a point of making sure nothing even remotely resembling vampires was available to you.  With everything that's happened the last few days do you really think the world is ready to know about them…or Pretenders for that matter?"

Now it was Jarod's turn to think.  "No…not yet."  He quietly replied.

"Jarod if anything you've made several friends here.  Angel and Buffy, Darien and the Agency…you all might be able to help each other in time."

"Maybe."

Jarod could make out someone yelling on the other end.  It sounded like Sydney was arguing with a very angry woman.  "Jarod you little bastard!"

"Miss Parker?"  
"It may take me a month.  It may take me a year but I promise you *will* pay for that little stunt you pulled at the bar."  
"That wasn't me!  It was all Hobbes' idea!"

"I'll deal with that midget too when I get the chance.  You on the other hand are much easier for me to deal with."

"Well I don't think you're going to do that."

"And why's that?"

"Because…" Jarod reached over on the kitchen counter and grabbed Hobbes' videotape.  "…I have something you want?"  
"What now?"

She almost sounds nervous.   Jarod thought to himself.  "Oh trust me you're gonna love it."

"The hell I won…" Jarod hit the end button and laughed.  He picked up his stuff, grabbing the paper along with it.  

----

**The Centre**

**2 Days Later**

A debriefing was taking place at the Centre between Miss Parker, her father and Raines. 

Mr. Parker skimmed over his daughter's report while Raines stood behind him saying nothing.  "Well I must say this is a very…interesting report you've given me.  Angel are you sure you don't want to have a psych evaluation?"

"Daddy I'm fine.  Really."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes.  Just…maybe for the next few days don't call me Angel?"  
Mr. Parker paused wondering why his daughter wouldn't want her to be called by his pet name for her entire life.  "Well if that's what you want Ang…Sweetheart.  But why the sudden change?"

"It just brings back some bad memories that's all.  I need to get back to my office and check on Sydney.  Goodbye Daddy."

She kissed her father on the cheek and walked out.

Her father went back over her report.  There were a couple of interesting points he saw.  
"Well now that Lyle's been sufficiently cowed we can get back to work.  Raines I want a permanent team in Sunnydale, California.  Have them do only observation for the time being.  And have the R&D heads come in here.  I have an idea for a new project."

Raines looked over the report.  "Invisibility?"  
"Exactly."

The old man wheezed as he took a deep breathe through his oxygen tank.  "My government contacts mentioned rumors of a black-ops agency that was experimenting in this."

"It looks like they were successful."

"It does.  If we could steal or develop it the applications could be very useful."

----

**Interstate 8 enroute to San Diego, C.A.**

A prison transport was bringing a shackled Ethan Rayne under heavy guard to San Diego. He was to be arraigned on a number of charges from incidents over the last several years.

In fact he was the only prisoner in the truck along with four-armed policeman to make sure nothing went wrong.

The ride went smoothly until a loud popping noise was heard from outside the truck.

One of the guard spoke into his walkie-talkie.  "Ed what the hell was that?"

The driver's voice came back.  "Looks we got a flat.  Hold on."

A few minutes later the back loading doors swung open.

"Finally so Ed how bad is…"  

The guard didn't finish because the driver pulled out a gun and quickly shot each of the four guards.

As for Ethan, all the blood drained from his face.  "You're from the Centre aren't you?

The driver laughed.  "Oh please.  They're strictly amateurs and I'm much better looking than one of those sweepers."  He noticed Ethan wasn't convinced.  "Don't wet yourself Ethan I'm not here to kill you.  Your exploits in Sunnydale caught my attention.  I could use a resourceful person like yourself."

Ethan looked intrigued.  "Who are you?"

"Someone who hates Darien Fawkes just as much as you do.  Someone who can help you get even with Jarod and the people in Sunnydale who did this to you."

"That didn't answer my question."

The man laughed.  Ethan watched him pull away the skin on his neck and face to reveal nothing there.  It was he was invisible like Darien.  

"I've have so many names over the years.  They're overrated.  But I guess you can call me Arnaud De Fehrn."   The now headless killer told him.  "And you and I are going to be of great help to each other."  

Arnaud held up an explosive device.  "Now I suggest you get out of there.  We want the police to think you're dead not a fugitive."

----

**3 Days Later**

A woman is running down a deserted street at night with a man pursuing her.  She rounds a corner into an alley and realizes she's reached a dead end.

The man following her came into view showing the face of a vampire.  

"No!  Somebody help!  Please!"

The girl's screams weren't heard and the vampire sank his teeth into her neck.  After half a minute the girl stopped struggling and her lifeless body was dropped to the ground.

"Cut!  That's it for today people!"  

The actress got back up.  "Yes!  Got it in one take!"

The Director got up from his chair and shook hands with the actors and crew on the site.  

He finally got around to one specific person.  "You have got to be the best make-up artist I have ever worked with!  How'd you ever think up that for a vampire?"

Jarod smiled.  "I guess you could say an Angel showed me."

"Ah whatever."  The Director a little puzzled.  "Hey trust me this movie is gonna be great 'cause of you!  I'm gonna make sure every studio in town hears the name Jarod Lucas."

"Well thanks I appreciate that."

"No problem.  Hey stop by the trailer later we're having food brought in."

"I'll do that."  Jarod heard a tone coming from his laptop indicating he had mail.  "Just give me a sec."  

He walked over to the area his equipment was set up.  Jarod had figured this was another message from Willow.  They had played several email chess games against over the last few days and the Pretender had to admit she was pretty good.

He brought up the message.  That's not Willow. 

Jarod noticed not only was the email sent from an anonymous account but carbon copies were also sent to Darien and Willow.

The message contained the picture of a stiletto blade indicating who had sent it even though AP reports claimed he had perished in an explosion. 

There were only three words in the message but it made Jarod feel uneasy:

_Be Seeing You_

----

Fin

Author's note:  The revised version of this should be up next week.  Just to let you guys know there isn't going to be a sequel to this.  At least not by myself.  I've just got too many things and story ideas to write one at the moment so a sequel would be several months away.  If somebody else does want to write a sequel by all means go right ahead.  I've already left it open for one for somebody to try or if you want send me an email and I'll tell you what I've come with for a sequel.

Anyways I hope everybody enjoyed this and thanks to all the people who reviewed or sent me email about this, it really helped me finish this.


End file.
